Soulless Knights
by False Shepard
Summary: AU: War casts its shadow across the land. Good becomes evil and hope turns into fear. The knights slumber on as the souls wait. The Warrior Goddess will lead them. A retelling of the White Knight Chronicles.
1. The Ice Maiden

**_Before you ask any questions. Yes, I'm still working on Saints or Sinners, just not right now. With November upon us it also means that NaNoWriMo is with us as well. This is my story. Although its not really legit. It's White Knight Chronicles retold with a twist. I've changed lore, I'm in the process of writing a matching Codex for my own benefit. Even if you haven't played the game, this story is still pretty cool, according to my editor._**

**_It also proves how much I love the Eidolons. I'm working on this day in and out until it's completion. Afterwards I'll return to Saints or Sinners._**

* * *

><p><em>They say that everything that happens to you is determined by fate. Even faced with an impossible decision, the choices you make are not decided by you but instead by the gods. Will fate always be cruel to mankind as one is raised to simply believe?<em>

_By doing the impossible, fate will change._

_Wars transcend time._

_The Eidolon Knights sleep no more._

* * *

><p>They had been riding for days; not much longer now. She smiled softly before adjusting her glasses as they had fallen to the edge of her nose. Flinging her hair over her shoulder, she pulled back on the reigns of her Chocobo when the lead rider came to a stop at the peak of a cliff. She watched as he jumped off the saddle of his Chocobo, the yellow bird ruffled his feathers and looked relieved to be free of the burden. She watched as the rider's heavy footfalls brought him to the edge where the Chocobo wouldn't dare to tread.<p>

"Eden Prime." he muttered, his voice deep and echoing throughout the closed helmet. Slowly, he turned back to her. "Jihl, is your team prepared for tonight?" he asked, the glowing eyes of the helmet laying upon her. She shivered slightly, having never gotten used to the General's glare.

"Yes sir, General Garland, sir." Jihl muttered. While the plan was not of her creation, it would be enough to get her and the squad through the gates of Eden and in turn get General Garland into the walls of Eden's Castle. He looked upon the settlement that was towards the north. A low chuckle started to echo throughout the group.

"We lay siege on Eden Prime tonight."

* * *

><p>King Farron smiled softly as he watched his daughter off in the far distance. He could still remember her those years ago when she was young and innocent. Now on the day of her nineteenth birthday, he had this feeling that things were about to change for the young princess. Good or bad, he didn't know.<p>

"My Lord."

The king slowly turned around, seeing his Guards' Captain standing at a firm salute behind him. Smiling he waved him off.

"No need to be so formal my dear Noel, we're family when no one is around."

"My Lord-"

"Father…" King Farron cut off Noel, the young man blushed slightly and cleared his throat.

"Father, there is a traveling circus troupe outside gate. They claim that they are here for the celebration of Princess Serah's birthday." Noel started slowly, as if he didn't want to offend his father figure. "Shall I send them away?"

A frown graced King Farron's lips as he looked in the general direction of the main gates. A circus visiting the very day of his daughter's birthday? The timing seemed perfect, almost too perfect. He looked back at Noel and crossed his arms as he mulled over the security implications in his head. There wasn't a single soul in Eden Prime, or all of Gran Pulse, who didn't know of the young Princess Serah so it only made sense.

"Let them in but do not let them in the inner wall of Eden. If they do come with malicious intent, we can force them out quickly."

"It will be done." Noel quickly turned on heel and walked briskly away, his plate armour and chain mail clanging along with each step that brightened the smile on King Farron's face. Noel Kreiss was a young boy when he came to him, beaten and battered. He had found the late Queen Brandford's necklace after she had lost it. He could still remember that day, clear as crystal. He had told the boy he could grant him anything that he pleased, food, money, lodging. All he wanted was to serve his King. Of course, neither he nor his wife would have any of that, which lead to their current situation. He wouldn't want it to be any different.

His attention was redirected when he heard the door open once more. His only daughter and her maid slowly walked in. Laughing lightly, he turned to her and opened his arms wide. A smile graced his daughter's lips as she ran to him for a hug.

"My daughter." he whispered holding her close. Serah never said a word. The King never frowned however, knowing that his daughter had fallen mute those years ago when his wife had passed on. "Nineteen years old, oh how the time flies." he started, she never said anything in return. "I still remember the day…" he paused, but Serah never said a word. "Then the day your mother died, oh how things certainly have changed." he stood up slowly. "Today will be a real treat for you, I hope you're looking forward for tonight."

Serah nodded softly.

* * *

><p>"Snow! You god damn fucking useless fucking tit!" The owner of Highwind Wines, Cid Highwind, barked the moment a young blond opened the doors to the store. "You're late! Again! I had to teach the fuckin' new kid on my own! You know how that slows down business?"<br>"Like we get any first thing in the morning." Snow muttered as he ran his hand through his messy hair. "Cid, why did you want me in this early? The party is tonight."

"Yes! I fuckin' well know that Princess Serah's bloody birthday is tonight! Who fuckin' doesn't know you fuckwit?" Cid barked, spitting in Snow's face. The young man had to wonder how Cid kept his clients in the first place. "My order from Bresha never came in last night so I want you and the new kid," he pointed over his shoulder roughly at the white haired boy standing in the corner by the crates "To go to fuckin' Bresha and see WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO MY FUCKING ORDER FOR TONIGHT!"

Snow groaned slightly, still trying to figure out how he grew up the way he did. Not with foul mouth Cid Highwind as a foster father. He looked at the new kid then back at Cid. Slowly he moved his way to the back of the store and gathered his equipment so he could easily travel Bresha Plains. Oh how the man who named the lands of Eden Prime was terribly unoriginal. The new kid followed him.

"I'm Hope, Hope Estheim." Hope introduced himself slowly, slightly nervous. Snow bit back a chuckle. "I'm Snow Villers, and that old man there is my father. Not my real father, but… well you know." he waved it off as Cid kept swearing on in the background. Hope chuckled softly while shaking his head. "So, Hope, you a good fighter or anything?" he asked, checking his bags. "While Bresha Plains are rather calm, the odd beast does tend to attack."

"Mostly magics." Hope muttered softly. "I have a boomerang." He patted the pouch on his thigh in pride as Snow smirked at him while pulling on a large ankle length overcoat and a pair of gloves. He tested them by flexing his hands. "Why are you acting like we're going to war? It's just Bresha Village." Hope looked away quickly and Snow barked a laugh.

"I like a good adventure, even if it's small, gotta treat it like it's a big one," he spun and grinned at Hope, "otherwise life will be one big boring story, where is the fun in that?"

"So you make it fun?"

"Not like I run head first into danger or anything." Snow was quickly out the front door, leaving Hope where he was. The young boy groaned.

"Why did I apply for this job?" he groaned before chasing after Snow.

* * *

><p>Slowly he weaved through the crowd. He kept his face covered by his traveling cloak and his hands on the two pistols strapped to his thighs. Hopefully the guardsmen would just see him as a raggedy traveller and pay him no heed. The only problem was that Eden was renowned for their Guard and their Guards' Captain. Just had to hope.<p>

"Hey! You!"

_Crap._

Slowly, he made is way over to the guard that had called him out. The guard looked unimpressed, at least that's what he could tell from underneath the full face helmet the guard wore. It was probably because of the way his arms were crossed. "I need to see your face, can you remove your hood?"

_Double Crap._

Panicking quickly, he tried to think of something. What good excuse existed out there?

"Sir?"

At least the guard was polite, Eden did something right.

"I am… uh… allergic to the sun. I blow up like a tomato, not pretty, not a good impression you want." He quickly ran off, hoping that would work. The guard seemed to recoil slightly at the mere thought of it.

"Er… okay… if it's gonna be a health issue just go on ahead." The guard waved him past, he nodded in thanks and continued on his merry way.

"Marcus." he heard the other guard snap at the one who had let him through. "Are you sure that was wise? It's Princess Serah's birthday."

"An old man like him?" Marcus turned to the other guard. "I highly doubt he'll cause a problem."

The elder gentleman made sure he was a fair distance away from the guard as he looked towards the old Eden Castle. Any moment now if the prophecies were correct. He kept walking forward down the main road, or at least what he thought was the main road. He watched as villagers came and went around him. When two peculiar-looking boys walked by him, time seemed to slow down around them. He gave them a good look as the short silver haired one looked back at him. The tall blonde one was babbling too much to notice the exchange. He ripped his eyes away and continued on his way.

Yes, they were correct.

* * *

><p>Hope looked away from the man who was looking at them funny. Frowning, he turned back to Snow who was probably trying to look thoughtful but wasn't doing all that well. Hope sighed and shook his head again, definitely wasn't going to be paid enough for this job. Highwind seemed like a good enough man, despite the mouth. Maybe he'd get lucky.<p>

"Hey, is that a circus?" Snow asked as they slowed to a stop. A large movable structure was being towed in by a team of tamed Behemoths. Skilled jesters and costumed acrobats performed countless tricks that left one breathless. One clown managed to keep her balance on a large ball as she bounced circles around the fire jugglers. Standing up on top was a tall woman with long blonde hair. She was wearing an embroidered cream coat with white gloves. A black top hat sat upon her head as a red clown nose finished her obvious ringmaster getup. Snow took a couple steps closer in awe as he watched the woman wave and smile at the groups.

"Snow." Hope muttered. He knew that they should be heading out instead of watching the travelling circus, not if they didn't want Cid Highwind to kill them. "Snow, we should be heading out."

"Yeah… yeah…" Snow was clearly lost in thought but Hope didn't care. Quickly, he marched up in front of the older, taller man and kicked him hard in the shin, breaking him out of his trance.

"NOW!" he snapped. Snow snapped to attention.

As they quickly scuttled off, they failed to notice the ringmaster woman watching them, a dark grin appearing on her lips.

* * *

><p>Bresha Plain is an open landscape named after the nearby village. The plain to the east of Eden was simply called Eden Plains because of Eden, they lead into the Grapa Whitewood. Hope knew that the chances of him ever exploring beyond the Whitewood were slim, extremely slim. Hope sighed again, already having lost count of his sighs since meeting Snow, as he took off down the main pathway through Bresha Plains.<p>

"Come on Hope! You're slow!" Snow shouted a fair distance away. For a man only twenty one years old, his immaturity was astounding. Hope, at the young age of fourteen, couldn't believe the maturity difference between them, it was ridiculous.

"Are you for real? You want to _run_all the way to Bresha? It's a three hour walk! I'm not running!"

"Where's the fun in that!"

"What are you? Six?"

Snow stopped running, paused, turned around, and stared at Hope.

"You're no fun."

"Someone has to be the grounded one around here." He crossed his arms, feeling that this was going to be a rocky friendship. Snow didn't saw anything as he waited for Hope to catch up with him. "If you keep running off, Speedy," he emphasised the last word, "someone is going to end up dead. I don't care if it's a behemoth or a flan, I just don't want to be the one who ends up dead."

"God, you're worse than Vanille." Snow muttered, Hope, nearly two heads shorter than Snow, took a couple steps back.

"Who?"

"Vanille, friend of mine. She lives in Bresha. Gotta see if I can drag her back to the city afterwards. You know, for extra protection."

"From what? Twigs?"

Snow moped onwards.

* * *

><p>Colonel Jihl Nabaat grumbled as she adjusted her clothing again. It was a bloody miracle. She glared at General Garland as he lumbered by, only pausing to give her a short look before poking the fake clown nose she was wearing. If he wasn't her commanding officer or wearing that ridiculous armour she would have kicked him, hard and good.<p>

"You gotta enjoy this just as much as the imbeciles." Garland's voice echoed throughout his helmet as usual, giving it nearly a synthesised effect, an effect found in most closed helmets. Garland chuckled softly as he took a step closer to her, running his hand through her blonde hair. "Tonight is the night. Eden will fall and we'll get out hands on the Eidolon Knight's Ark."

Jihl bit her lower lip and looked away from Garland. The Eidolon Knight's Ark. A group of ancient weapons created by an Ancient Civilization to help fight the Gestahlian Empire. Now, several millennia later, with the Knights long gone; sealed away; and forgotten, the Gestahlian Empire was after them for their own personal gain.

They wanted to come back and take back the world that should have rightfully theirs those years ago. General Garland didn't care who they were or what they were. Cocoonian, Pulsian or Spirian; it didn't matter, the Gestahlian Empire just needed to rule all.

While Jihl didn't quite agree with such views, she wasn't someone who could easily betray her upbringing.

Even if she needed to make a fool out of herself to get what the General wanted.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

><p>"Snow! There you are!" a petite redhead shouted across Bresha as she stormed up to the duo. "You're late!"<p>

"Not this again." Snow groaned while the redhead poked him in the chest. Hope assumed the young girl was Vanille.

"You were supposed to be here two hours ago mister, why are you late?"

"Something happened…"

"Something?"

"Yea… something…"

"You slept in again!" Vanille shouted before realizing Hope was standing right there. She turned to him, flashed the cutest smile he had ever seen and quickly stated in a single breath that took the young boy a couple seconds to process. _"Hi I'm Vanille Dia! Nice to see Snow hasn't corrupted you yet." _She then dragged the much taller man off by his ear. What a sight to see, they must be childhood friends. "The wine is all prepped and ready to go, but the driver seems to have gone and run off. Sadly, the Chocobos that pull the cart only listen to him." she placed her hands on her hips and pulled her lips into a small pout. "Biggs is useless, probably off sleeping somewhere."

Hope scratched his arm lightly before raising his hand, as if he was asking for permission to speak. Vanille looked at him once, frowned, then nodded.

"I saw someone sleeping near the main gates…" he started, Vanille quickly shouted Biggs' name and stormed off, leaving the two boys behind. "Is she always like this?" he asked Snow, the large man chuckled.

"That's what makes Vanille." Snow chuckled as he watched the redhead return pulling a man by his ear. She also had some kind of weapon folded up in her off hand. Hope already knew that Vanille was going to be tagging along, Snow didn't need to ask her.

"I'm sorry Miss Vanille!" Biggs was shouting, he had a wine bottle in his hand. A drunkard driver hauling a wagon full of wine back to Eden, amazing. Hope grumbled, if he didn't get a fair pay after today, he was quiting.

* * *

><p>"How is the princess this eve?"<p>

King Farron looked over his shoulder from his place on the balcony that overlooked the courtyard where he could see his daughter sitting by the fountain. He wouldn't deny anyone if they pointed out that he was an overprotective father.

"She's grown more and more beautiful with each passing day, even more so for the last ten years." King Farron sighed. "The night we lost Tina was a horrible one indeed Barthadelus." he turned to his old advisor and lifelong friend. "Young Serah hasn't spoken a word since that day, and how I wish to see a true smile on her face once more."

"Then do you think we should still hold the ball?" Barthandelus stepped forward slightly. "Princess Serah might not be ready for this."

"She wasn't ready for the war we had against Spira ten years ago! She wasn't ready to see her mother murdered before her!" King Farron snapped suddenly. He froze moment. "Apologies Barthadelus."

"It's fine." the man muttered, raising his hand. "Queen Brandford's death was a surprise to us all, young Princess Serah was so attached to her, it's no surprise this is what had happened. However, with the Princess's heartbreaking condition, people are starting to question, why are we trying to make peace with the same people who robbed her of her mother?" he asked, King Farron glared at him.

"My wife is gone, Barthadelus, war has taken her, just as it has taken many before her. The war will not give her back. The Spirians speak our tongue, we ought to trade words with them from now on, not lives." King Farron stated, Barthadelus narrowed his eyes before they were interrupted by a guard.

"Your grace." he kneeled before the two of them, keeping his eyes down on the ground.

"What is it Lieutenant?" King Farron asked, the man looked away again.

"Archduke Braska will be arriving shortly."

"Good, see to it that he is rightfully welcomed, Lieutenant Squall."

"I shall your Grace." with that Squall had walked away, King Farron smiled softly, as Barthandelus looked at him slowly before starting to walk away too.

"I should praise you, your Honour, for letting that circus troupe in earlier today. It will be a wonderful gift for Princess Serah on this glorious day." He left, not without pausing for a moment to let a smirk grace his lips before disappearing into the castle.

* * *

><p>Captain Noel watched his surroundings as he wandered through the city grounds. He smiled brightly as the people of Eden nodded at him, some of the men saluting him as he walked past. Slowly he made his way over to one of the posted guards. The Spirians were making their progression through the gates. Banners were being held high by foot soldiers, as various other ranked guards made up the parade. Two tamed Adamanchelids adorned in ceremonial armour flanked the group of guards who carried the Archduke's seat. Captain Noel just watched with awe.<p>

"That is certainly a procession." The guard he was standing beside muttered, Noel bit his lower lip.

"I hope the Archduke comes with good intentions, I highly doubt I can stay long with the Spirian scum." Noel muttered as he and the guard walked forward and kneeled down, the Archduke stopping his parade and turning to the two.

"Who are you?" he asked them, his voice soft and gentle, something Noel didn't quite expect from a man such as he. Biting the tip of his tounge he spoke.

"I am Noel Kreiss of Eden, Captain of the Castle Guard. We are most honoured by your visit."

"Formalities…" Archduke Braska sighed, slightly put off by Noel's manners. "Tell me son, how is his kingship?" he asked slowly, Noel clenched his hands.

"He is doing well your Excellency."

"He is? I see… doing well you say." he paused. "If you'll excuse me." with that his group continued to move, Norel growled slightly, looking away. The guard beside him looked at him.

"Does his grace really hope to make peace with these people?"

"Peace with the Spirians? The idea is just a dream." he looked upwards at the castle. "Has the King forgotten? So soon?"

* * *

><p>They were useless, the whole damned lot of them. The sun was already setting and they were only halfway back to Eden. Old Man Cid was going to kill them. Well… Hope looked at Snow. He'd probably kill Snow. String him up by the toes and prod at him with that old spear he saw stashed in the backroom of Highwind Wines.<p>

"I hate Bresha Plains once the sun sets." Vanille muttered softly, crossing her arms to protect herself from the soft breeze that whistled through the open grounds. "The monsters come out, and I hear they're rather fierce."

"Oh lighten up Vanille. It's not like a Behemoth is going to climb up a cliff and just jump us for the wine." Snow joked half heartedly, but Biggs had stopped his Chocobos and was looking around wearily.

"You know, it's the Feral Behemoths that are attracted to the smell of wine… and Chocobos, definitely Chocobos." he whispered, Snow rolled his eyes and crossed his own arms.

"Behemoths aren't going to attack you. This is Bresha Plain, think about how many travellers have gone through here then think of the amount of Behemoth sightings there have been. We'll be fine." Snow tried to reassure the distressed driver, but Biggs was having none of it. It was Hope looking away towards the nearby cliffside that caught Vanille's attention.

"Hope?"

"Do Behemoths always wear leather greaves?" Hope asked slowly. "And their horns, do they look like real metal?"

"I'm not sure, why do you ask?" Vanille asked, Hope slowly lifted a trembling hand and pointed upwards.

"Cuz there is our behemoth friend." he said in a near whisper. "He doesn't look like he's just going to let us walk by either. We're going to have to fight him." Hope finished pulling out his boomerang. He could hear Snow pounding his fists together in excitement, this man was a terrible, terrible influence to be around when it came to fighting. Hope figured he wouldn't be surprised if Snow took a few steps forward and started to provoke the beast.

That's exactly what he did.

They were going to die, the whole damn lot of them. Hope watched as the Behemoth leap down the cliff like it was part of its morning walk before slowly walking towards them, standing up on its hind legs and gripping the horn on its head. Hope watched in terror as it ripped the metal slab out, revealing it to be a rather cruel looking sword as it slowly moved closer and closer to them. Snow was grinning and laughing while Vanille sounded annoyed. As if taking on a Behemoth was mere child's play to them. Sure he might be the youngest, but by far it seemed like he was the most sane.

Vanille had pulled out her rod-staff thing, he wasn't sure what it was and he was definitely not going to ask her knowing full well a woman's wrath when they're insulted. He had seen his father accidentally offend his mother on several occasions, he finally understood the term 'doghouse' now. Snow had no weapons on him, despite being the one who spend most of the time preparing for such an occasion. The young boy bit his lower lip as the Behemoth stood before the trio and releasing a full blown war. It was time to fight.

It struck out first, bringing the sword down in a strong sunder. Both Hope and Vanille quickly darted off in different directions while Snow, the larger and slower of the group jumped backwards and took the force of the blow. Vanille didn't seem to care about Snow's well being so he figured he didn't really need to either. Already, he was starting to detest the loudmouth. Calling from his pool of magic he charged an Aero spell in his hand and threw it out at the beast. It pushed the Behemoth aside slightly, not much, but enough to know that this one wasn't yet fully grown. He quickly followed up with a chain mixing between fire and wind, Vanille filling the void between attacks when he had to restart his chants. Just stay on the offensive, keep the beast on the defensive, and eventually it would fall.

Yeah, if any of them wielded a goddamned sword!

Hope quickly dove out of the way as the Behemoth swung wildly at them, no one in their small party equipped to dance with the large beast. Even then the sword user would have to be a damned dancer to keep up with it. While he and Vanille continued to lay down the fire, Snow had gotten in close and tried to beat the beast down with his fist. Hope couldn't tell if Snow was just a stupid idiot or if the Behemoth hide was as thick as merchants claimed it was but the only wear and tear he could see was through the spells.

"Stagger point." Vanille whispered and unleashed a massive Aero spell that managed to finally throw the beast off its feet. Hope's boomerang was finally thrown, the young boy already knowing the basics one needed to fight and fight well. The metal alloy of his Airwing connected with the staggered beast, and like in the books, it was enough to shatter the young beast's blade. With a roar, it fell back onto all fours trying to regain ground. Snow wasn't allowing any of that however, he charged at the beast but it jumped back, a whimper escaping through its black lips before it scampered off, knowing it was defeated and not having a desire to see it's young life ended today.

"Holy fuck that was close!" Biggs sighed, wiping the sweat off his forehead. Hope just stared at the driver as Vanille brushed by him. He could hear her calling the old drunkard a 'useless prick' under her breath.

Hope just prayed things would be smooth sailing from here on out. Folding his boomerang and pocketing it, he turned around slowly to take a look at Snow and Vanille. Both were a little winded but they would recover.

"We're going to be late now." Hope muttered, looking upwards at the setting sun. Snow shivered slightly.

"Vanille, start planning my funeral." Snow muttered as they all clambered up onto the cart and Biggs forced his Chocobo into motion. With the threat of a behemoth attack now slim to none they could afford to take the chance. They were at the city gate within minutes. The guardsmen looked rather displeased. Vanille quickly jumped off the cart and ran up to the guard, taking a small curtsy before starting.

"Highwind Wines. We sell no wine before its time." she sung. "We're here with tonight's delivery."

"Yeah, you're here three hours late!" the guard snapped. "When the kitchen went with Highwind, they expected better service."

"It's my fault." Snow and Biggs confessed at the the same time before pausing. Awkward silence. Biggs started up again. "I fell asleep on the job. If Miss Vanille and her two friends didn't find me, we would've been even later."

"So you're telling me you're unreliable."

"In all honestly, I'm just an underpaid worker."

The guard glared at Biggs before walking around the cart, inspecting the barrels that were filled with the wine.

"I guess you check out, cleared to go in." They stepped aside to let the chocobo pull the cart in. Biggs knew his way through the city and no longer needed guidance, leaving the three of them be. Hope clasped his hands together and swayed back and forth a little on the heels of his feet.

"I guess someone should go tell Mister Highwind that we're back, shouldn't we?" he asked, Snow and Vanille looked at him as if he was crazy. He stared back of them. For the first time since he had met Vanille, he had never seen her think on the same page as Snow. The blond man grinned as he adjusted the black bandanna he wore upon his head.

"Hope, there is one thing you gotta learn if you're going to be hanging out with Vanille and I." he clapped a massive hand on his shoulder, causing his knees to buckle slightly underneath the force. "We like sneaking into parties such as these."

"But…" Hope started to protest but Vanille's smile cut him off.

"We won't be long, grab some food, maybe get a glimpse of Princess Serah, see things that most commoners don't get to see, then be right out of the castle before someone notices we took some cake. The castle is large enough and there will be a lot of people, they won't notice the group of us in there." she reasoned, Hope couldn't really find a fault in her logic. He'd love to see Princess Serah up close, not many people have had the privilege to since the death of Queen Brandford ten years ago.

"Well… I guess it can't hurt." Hope muttered, nodding slightly. "Alright, I mean, what could possibly go wrong?"

A lot could go wrong in just a single hour.

The group of three looked around the castle in awe. The ballroom was as grand as people were told to believe. They watched the nobles dance as they edged around the room, trying to get to an upper floor where they wouldn't be bothered. Slowly they made their way up to the balcony, still looking around in awe. Vanille had spied something and ran off, dragging Hope along with her. Snow leaned over the balcony towards the end of the ballroom. In the distance he could see King Farron chatting away with another older gentleman sitting beside him. Then, standing to the king's left was a girl, a beautiful girl. No… a familiar girl.

"I remember…" he whispered to himself. It had to be about nine years ago, he was by the fountain in the courtyard of Eden Castle waiting for Cid Highwind. He had seen the young Princess Serah walking down the hallway, pausing at the open doors to look at him. He remember looking up from his reflection in the water and seeing her smiling at him before running at him. He had stumbled back in surprise not realizing what she wanted. She had tumbled upon him, both of them laughing. However they never got a chance to introduce themselves as the princess' maids lead her away as Cid Highwind had returned to take him home.

"What'chya lookin' at?" Vanille suddenly jumped on Snow's back, interrupting his thoughts. He growled softly as she looked in the general direction he was looking. She sighed and looked at him, "It's rude to stare at royalty you know." she muttered. Snow just grumbled.

* * *

><p>Back near the gates, the fake travelling circus had been performing for hours now. Colonel Jihl Nabaat was starting to grow bored. All of this fake laughter and cheery demeanor was starting to make her cheeks hurt. The General had to be in position by now. He said he knew the castle well despite the fact that he had never been to Eden before. Maybe there was a mole in Eden's forces? She brought her hand down and touched the red nose that sat upon her own nose. Something seemed off about that man, maybe she should spend some time figuring that man out.<p>

After they got the Eidolon Knight.

She smirked.

The clock tower rung.

Now it was time.

Pulling off the fake nose and hat, she threw them away before ripping her cloak off. Grinning she quickly shouted, "Alright men! Time to move out!" as she threw her jacket off, revealing her soldier's uniform underneath. Her men followed suit, pulling off their jester outfits and pulling out their weapons. Jihl pulled out her saber as her trained Behemoths broke free from the metal caravan they were towing. Jihl and her men jumped away to continue their ambush as the metal began to transform, revealing itself to be a Berserker.

"Alright men. Tonight is the Princess' coming-of-age. Let's give her the best gift we can! War strikes Eden once more!" Foot soldiers burst from the two other caravans as they pulled out a combination of guns and swords on the fleeing civilians. Jihl laid her eyes down on a hooded man and smiled, slowly prowling towards him with her saber in hand. She raised it up to strike him down but he reacted, throwing off his cloak to reveal an elder black gentleman who blocked her saber with a gun. He fired back at her but she dodged the bullet. She grinned at him as he panicked slightly, firing again at her feet. She stepped back a couple times as he threw a fire spell at her. So this man wasn't any ordinary gunslinger. She looked at him as he stepped back a couple times. He looked at her again before running in the other direction towards the castle.

So he knew…

* * *

><p>"May I have everyone's attention please?"<p>

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to King Farron as he raised his glass. "I'd like to give a toast to my daughter on this special day despite the tragedy that had befallen us with the death of Queen Brandford. There is not a day that goes by that I do not miss her." he paused and smiled softly. "I wish only the best for my daughter and all of Eden." he raised his glace once more as everyone else around him did. Smiling and chuckling he took a sip before sitting down. He turned to Archduke Braska and started up a new conversation with him.

From above, Snow Villers leaned against the railing as he watched Princess Serah from afar. Vanille was hanging around behind him with a slice of cake she had 'lifted' from the table. She had the tip of the fork hanging from her mouth as she savoured each portion of the cake.

"She looks sad."

Vanille sputtered slightly, taking the fork out of her mouth and swaying closer to Snow, looking over the railing at Serah as well. "They say that she hasn't spoken in ten years. Not since Spira attacked the castle. It's heartbreaking you know." she paused to take another piece of cake. "She saw a Spirian Assassin kill her mother before her, and now, years later, her father is trying to make peace with them. Yeah, I would be sad t-"

Vanille stopped when the grand doors were thrown open, an injured Templar stumbling in. The music stopped, the dancing stopped, everyone watched at the bleeding guard moved towards the King. He stumbled and fell onto his knees, looking up at the King and the Archduke.

"Your grace… a message…" he choked, Archduke Braska, unimpressed, stood up.

"This is a celebration. What the devil is it?" he snapped, the Templar looked up at him.

"A monster… a monster has attacked Eden!" he collapsed. Dead or unconscious they couldn't tell, nor had the time to check because a stone wall was blown in by a slightly battered Berserker crashing through it. Screams echoed throughout the castle as everyone panicked, seeing the enemy soldiers charge in and cut down anyone in their path. Up on the balcony, Hope rounded the corner and crashed into Vanille, making her drop what was left of her cake.

"We need to go!" he shouted, grabbing Vanille's arm and trying to lead them away. Vanille quickly turned to get Snow but the young man was already gone. They ran while Captain Noel gathered his men to lead the counterattack below.

"Do not let them through!" he shouted. "Protect your King and your Princess!" He pulled his pronged sword and dagger from his back and charged in, the others following. Blood and bodies went flying.

* * *

><p>King Farron lead his daughter by the hand as they ran down the hallways and through the other rooms. Serah stumbled a couple times, King Farron only waiting for his daughter to recover. He heard the clanging of armour as he paused to look upwards, standing over him was a large man adorned in amazing armour. Slowly he brought himself to stand up properly as the armoured man pulled a sword from his belt. King Farron couldn't get anything out except a gurgle as he felt a piercing pain in his abdomen. The man pulled his sword back as the King fell.<p>

Serah screamed.

"Father! No! You can't leave me!" she shouted, her first words in ten years as she ran to his side. Kneeling down beside him she cried out, tears running down her face as she touched his back. "You can't… you can't…"

"Serah…" King Farron breathed out slowly. "How nice it is… to hear your beautiful voice again. One… last time…"

"No father… no it's not… please… don't die." Serah sobbed as she balled her hands into fists. Hanging her head, she felt her father breathe his last breath beneath her. Crying, she looked upwards at the man who was still staring down at her. She watched as he raised his sword up again, preparing to end her own life. She flinched and looked away only to hear it clang against something else. Looking up she saw a blonde man blocking the sword with a dagger. He pushed the man away as he stepped back. He looked the newcomer over once before turning around and walking away. She didn't say anything as he took her by the arm, pulled her up onto her feet and finally spoke.

"Let's go, Princess."

* * *

><p>"Archduke! Sire! Stay with me!" Captain Noel shouted as he held the Archduke of Spira close to him. He had been so caught up in the battle he hadn't noticed that the Spirians were struggling against this unknown enemy at the same time, that who they were fighting was a common enemy. Archduke Braska, a rather renowned Mage, was unable to defend himself for the long period of time required and in turn was injured. Noel found him and stayed put, watching Braska die in his arms. He slammed his fist down on the ground in defeat as he cried out.<p>

"What about the peace treaties? Now it won't happen!"

"Captain Noel!" Noel looked up to see Squall standing above him, blood splattered and winded. He hoisted his Type-II Gunblade over his shoulder and saluted quickly.

"The King is dead." he said quickly and stiffly, like ripping off a band-aid.

Noel Kreiss' world shattered.

* * *

><p>Left, right, left, right, right, right, she lost track, tripped over her feet, and tumbled. She cried out in surprise as the older boy turned around. Quickly he kneeled down beside her and held her by the shoulder. "Come on… I'll protect you." he whispered to her. Princess Serah looked at him, absolutely confused.<p>

"Who are you?" she asked softly. The blonde boy smiled at her.

"Snow, Snow Villers." he said softly, she looked away.

"Why… why do you care?" she half whispered. Snow smiled. For someone who hadn't spoken in ten years, Princess Serah Farron certainly had a way with her words.

"I care for you." he paused and stumbled over his own words. "I mean, we all care about you, your kingdom loves and cares for you." He pulled her up to her feet and held her close. "We can't afford to lose you too Princess." They were interrupted when the Berserker crashed in through the wall. Snow stared at the monster in surprise as he took Serah by the hand.

"Do you trust me?" he asked quickly. Serah looked at him closely and nodded. They started to run again but they were blocked by an older dark skinned man wearing an unrecognizable green uniform jacket with a pistol in each hand. "To the cellars, quickly!" he shouted. Snow, not caring if it was a trap or not, nodded, took Serah, and ran.

"No, not the cellar… not near her." Serah muttered, but it was ignored.

* * *

><p>"Aww man… Snow just <em>had<em> to go play hero didn't he?" Vanille snapped as she and Hope ran through the mess of dead and fighting soldiers of three different factions. The King was dead, the Archduke as dead, and for all they knew, both Snow and the Princess could be dead too. They threw water spells at small fires that got in their path as they tried to find a way out, only to be stopped when a large man in armor stood in their way.

"No no no…" Hope stuttered, the spell he was charging dying in his hand. The man raised his massive triangular shaped sword that had to be as tall as he. Hope closed his eyes, waiting for the end. It didn't come, instead, he felt the heat of fire whizz by his cheek. Hope opened his eyes and looked around, a newcomer was standing behind Vanille wearing a green jacket and holding a sniper rifle in his hand.

"This is no place for you." the armored soldier muttered, his eyes trained on the man. Hope watched as the dark skinned man raised his gun against the enemy soldier.

"I've heard that before," the man muttered. "but I'm not the type to listen."

"Who are you?" he asked. Hope rolled his eyes, was this really happening in the middle of a war in the burning castle?

"Just an old traveller fulfilling a single focus." he muttered, cocking his gun. "Who are you?"

"General Garland of the Gestahilan Empire." he stated, Hope's eyes opened wide. He had heard bedtime stories of General Garland when he was a child; it was more of a fairytale to make sure children continued to behave. An arrogant knight who loves chaos and destruction, immortal and a ghost. If a child was misbehaving he would come to you at night and take you away to the void.

"As I feared, you really are immortal." the man muttered as he looked at the two children. "We should run." They looked at him, distrusting. "Believe me! I'll tell you everything! If we live!"

They ran.

* * *

><p>"Are you okay Princess?" Snow asked softly as they closed the large door that lead deep into Eden's Dungeon. Snow could tell that Serah was hesitant to be here but they didn't have much of a choice, not if they wanted to live.<p>

"They're here too." Serah muttered, looking down the dungeon. Snow walked closer to the edge. He could see them, the enemy soldiers wandering around as if they were looking for something.

"Is there anything down here Princess?" he asked, Serah shook her head. Snow walked up to her, placing his hands down on her small shoulders. "Princess."

"The… the vault…" she muttered, "But there is nothing in there except the family treasure… and her…" she whispered. Snow took a step back.

"Are you any good with magics?" he asked her. Serah hesitated, but nodded. "Good, because I'm awful. If we're gonna make our way down to the vault we're going to have to fight them. I'll protect you, but you need to help me with healing, I'm a Sentinel, I can protect you but not myself." Serah stared at him for a moment before nodding. Snow lead the way down, the soldiers were far and few between. Snow ran ahead and snuck up behind one of the guards who was looking down. He smacked him on the back of his helmet hard enough to knock him out. He waved at Serah, indicating she should follow. She nodded, picking up her dress slightly, and moving down the steps quickly.

"Good, if we just stay quiet…" Snow stopped when he heard the clanging noise of a solider banging his sword against his shield. Villers' blood ran cold when he saw an archer taking aim. Unable to dodge in time, he took an arrow to his left shoulder. Growling, he snapped it and charged the man, swinging aimlessly with his fist before crossing his legs and spinning out in a roundhouse kick. The man stumbled back and fell into the abyss of the castle with a scream.

"The Princess is here!" the guards shouted when they noticed Serah behind Snow. The larger man grumbled as five guards surrounded them, the only ones left down here. Serah hesitantly moved to hide behind Snow's larger frame. "Stand down!"

"And let you take the princess?" Snow snapped. "I promised to protect her! I _will_protect her!" He felt some of his mediocre magic charge to his fists, feeling the chill he threw a blizzard spell at the floor, freezing the men to the ground. They started to laugh because it wasn't strong enough. Snow took a step forward but Serah charged out in front, a determined look on her face.

"Blizzard!" she shouted, throwing a mighty spell at them that ended up freezing all of them to the bone. Snow stared at her.

"You killed them."

"They'll be fine." Serah muttered as she continued downwards. Snow staring at the frozen guards, wondering where this sudden streak appeared in the usually depressed princess.

"No they won't" he muttered, Serah looked over her shoulder.

"Oh… oh well." she turned away again. "The Vault is this way." she lead Snow, the two of them started walking rather slowly only to be stopped yet again when they heard a crashing sound. Both of them froze, shoulders high as they looked at each other, knowing full well what was behind them. "Run." Serah squeaked. They ran forward towards the vault. They cleared the door and made it halfway through before the stone collapsed on the Berserker, stopping it for the time being. The two of them, who were thrown forward by the collapse, slowly picked themselves off the ground.

"If I had known something like this was going to happen tonight, I would've worn something more practical." Serah grumbled, a sarcastic streak within her as well. Snow remained silent as they looked around. They slowly moved in deeper, afraid they would trigger a trap of some sort. "This is my family vault, I thought… I thought there would be more to it." she muttered as they made it to the back wall. Chained upon the wall was a suit of armour that had to be at least seven-metres tall. The armor was a combination of various shades of blue, gold and white and it carried the distinctive appearance of a female.

"Shiva…" Serah muttered. "They found her seventeen years ago when the ruins of Cocoon were finally broken into. No one knows where she came from or if there're others." Serah walked forward slightly towards the knight, as if she was reliving an old memory, but she was only three years old at the time. Snow didn't say anything as she touched the silver gloved gaunlet that rested on the pedestal before the knight. "The scholars think the Ancient Cocoonians made them, but the writing…" she brushed her fingers over the script. "It's not Cocoonian."

"Even then." Snow smirked. "If it is Cocoonian, they must have had some pretty tall soldiers."

"That is an Eidolon Knight." a new voice said as the two of them turned around, wondering how the hell this gentleman got in here. "It's more than just a mere weapon, it's one of the Goddess' Guardians turned into a weapon, we only know that it was a group of these weapons used by Cocoon back in the War of Transgression.

"A weapon…" Serah muttered. "No wonder father locked it away. To use something like this against anyone, Spira or not… it's awful."

"That is what the castle raiders are after." The elder man muttered. "If they get their hands on this, who knows what would happen to Eden Prime, no… all of Gran Pulse." He pulled out his weapons and inspected them slowly. "They cannot get their hands on this or any other Eidolon."

"You mean there are others?" Serah asked quickly. Before the older man could answer the Beserker recovered, throwing the damaged stone away and throwing Serah off her feet again. The elder man helped Serah back up onto her feet as Snow ran up to the glove.

"What are you doing boy?" he snapped at him as Snow scooped up the glove. He looked at the man.

"Well, if it's a weapon, we should use it right? We need to try otherwise we'll be dead anyway!" he threw it on.

"No! Only the worthy can wield the Eidolon!" The moment the words left his mouth a flash of bright white light absorbed him.

* * *

><p>He woke up suddenly, scared and surprised. He wasn't in Eden Castle anymore. Instead, he found himself on a winter plain. He buried his gloved hand into the snow and brought some closer to him. It wasn't cold. He picked himself up and looked around.<p>

_"Her Providence sought nothing."_

He spun around. There, floating before him, were two women. He quickly realized that they didn't look normal; besides their unusual appearance, he noticed that they were adorned in armour. Stira and Nix, their names just came to him.

_"Her Providence made nothing."_

"Who are you?" he asked slowly, preparing for battle. Nix, who had a wheel floating beside her, lashed out at Snow. He brought his arms up and felt the familiar Steelguard protect him from the attack before he threw the wheel back at Nix. Stira slowly floated backwards, her mouth moving.

_"She but looked on, silent in Her sorrow."_

Snow knew what he needed to do. Shaking his hands out he brought his hands up to protect himself as Nix lashed out with her wheel again. Snow jumped up and landed on the wheel, realizing that it was an error as his feet were taken out from underneath him. He crashed on the snow but kicked himself back up onto his feet. Stira crashed into him again, starting a physical battle as he flew off his feet again. Slowly he stood back up, feeling a wave of healing magic fall over him. Stira was healing him.

"I see, I got to prove that I can protect." he held his hands up when Nix flipped through the air, the wheel following her as Snow brought up another Steelguard, blocking. Stira was smiling softly as Snow blocked a pirouette before counterattacking, punching the blue skinned woman in the face. Nix skidded backwards but instead of attacking again, she held her hands out, the wheel rising above her and starting to spin faster and faster. Snow watched for a moment before gritting his teeth together and bringing his arms up again, Steelguard washing over him again just as Nix lashed out with her wheel. The attack should have knocked him off his feet, but he held ground. Looking at the two women he snarled.

"Weapon or not. I will not let you hurt those dear to me!" Snow shouted. Nix finally smiled, Stira copying her.

_"While we expected a female to be our mistress, we can accommodate. My master." _Nix spoke slowly as she and Stira touched hands. Snow watched as their bodies started to glow and disintegrate into crystal dust, he stepped back in surprise when his body absorbed it. Before he could do anything else he felt himself falling backwards as he slipped into unconsciousness.

He woke in the vault, looked around quickly, and then back at the female knight. Only now did the armor look distinctively male. "The knight…" he heard Serah whisper. "It was female, how did it suddenly change like…" she looked at Snow but he couldn't see her with his back turned.

"He was chosen?" the older man muttered, but lost his balance when the Berserker roared and blindly charged at them. Snow spun around on his feet and quickly pushed Serah towards the older gentleman as he held the arm that was wearing the Shiva Ark out before chanting.

_"Twin Rulers, arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of the winter wastes."_Snow didn't get a chance to finish because the Berserker was suddenly upon him, crushing the young man and howling out a cry of victory. Serah cried out in despair as the man held her back. The metallic fire monster didn't stop there however, it charged at the freshly transformed suit of armour that was chained to the back wall. The chains broke as it fell, the beast trying to crush it under its foot.

"Snow!" Serah cried out when she saw the young man pushed his way out of the rubble.

_"By the grace of Etro, grant me your power! Shiva!"_he roared as the emblem on the gloved gauntlet began to glow. The two had to shield their eyes from the light but it had faded as quickly as it had came. Standing in Snow's place was the the Knight.

"The Ice Maiden…" the old man muttered. "No… not anymore… he's a Knight now." he said as the two of them watched the transformed Snow raise his fists at the Berserker. They watched as he shot a straight jab at the monster before following up with a kick. The beast skidded backwards. The Berserker roared as it summoned a floating forged blade. True to it's summoner's name, it was wild and uncontrollable, bringing about even more damage than it's summoner and causing parts of the ceiling to cave when Snow knocked it out of the way. He spun on the ball of his foot when he heard Serah scream, diving towards her just at the right time to take the brute of a boulder that would have otherwise crushed her.

"Snow…"

"I promised I would protect you, Princess." Snow smiled but it couldn't be seen behind the closed helmet his transformed state wore.

"Use your sword boy!" the man roared at him. Snow ignored him and threw another fist at the Berserker.

"A true hero," he slammed an uppercut into the beast. "does not kill!" With a mighty roar he charged headfirst into a tackle and grabbed the beast, slamming it against the wall. It caused more of the stone to come loose, making the place more and more dangerous to fight in. He kept a hold of the beast as he stepped back, noticing the Captain of the Guard run in with some men along with Hope and Vanille. It was getting too crowded now, he couldn't protect everyone.

"The knight is moving?" Captain Noel shouted while his Lieutenant looked back and forth between the Captain and the transformed Snow.

"I thought the armour was supposed to look like a woman!"

"I need to take this fight elsewhere," Snow muttered as he grabbed the Berserker's shield arm and started to pry it away from the body. "I hope they won't make me pay for the damages." he pulled the beast over his shoulder and jumped upwards through the ceiling leaving everyone else dumbfounded.

Vanille, who was just as surprised as Captain Noel when she arrived, couldn't help but shake off a feeling. Was that Snow?

Snow threw the beast off him again and looked around, they were in the destroyed ballroom now. The jump through the stone didn't even seem to faze the metal beast as it attacked him again. Snow blocked with his metal covered arm and lashed out with his other. The beast skidded backwards as Snow charged him, loving how his insane height allowed him to cover ground faster. Tackling into the beast the two of them crashed through the window and into the courtyard. They rolled around for a bit, Snow finding his feet first. He jumped back up as the Berserker recovered, forging a new blade and summoning fire around the Ice Knight. Snow growled as water was released from the cracks in his metal gloves, dousing the flames before they grew even taller.

"Snow!" Vanille's cry was heard as she and the others ran back up to the surface, passing General Garland who was standing in the stairwell. The armoured man watched Princess Serah for a moment before disappearing into the shadows.

"What are you doing boy?" the older man shouted. "Use your sword!" Snow looked over his shoulder and shook his massive head.

"I'll never use a sword!" he roared and charged the beast again, his fists slamming into the head of the already dazed Berserker. Calling upon his ice magics he froze the beast solid. A massive uppercut shattered the beast's head, killing it. Snow stepped back slowly in surprise, probably because he had killed the thing.

"He probably would've been more effective if he used his blade." the old man muttered in defeat as he watched the seven metre tall Eidolon Knight kneel down, fading away back to the nearly seven foot tall Snow Villers. The man looked up suddenly, confused. He looked at his own hands, seeing that the Shiva Ark was gone. Slowly he stood up, looked around, and saw an armband with Shiva's symbol strapped to he bicep. Even the Ark could change it's shape.

Princess Serah's scream broke him out of his daze as he spun around. Everyone else followed suit. At the top of the stairs leading to the castle stood Princess Serah being held back by Colonel Jihl Nabaat and General Garland. The blond woman was chuckling softly as Garland's shoulders heaved with laughter. Snow, not thinking, started to charge towards them but they disappeared, using the long forgotten warp spell.

"Goddammit! SERAH!"" Snow roared as a massive black airship flew over the castle. They had to be on that ship! No doubt about it. He ran to the other end of the courtyard, knowing it was useless as he came to a stop. Staring, Vanille and Hope slowly walked up to stand beside him.

"Serah…" he clenched his hand into a fist. "I'll get you back… I will!"

_On that day, souls once parted came together again. It seemed like a mere coincidence, but softly, the wheels of a cruel destiny had already began to turn._


	2. The Black Knight

"Sir, the Shiva Eidolon is in the hands of a mere child. Will it not cause problems in our future plans?" Jihl asked slowly as she looked out a window, seeing the burning Eden Castle in the distance. She looked at the massive man adorned in the armor, wondering if the horns on his helmet really were necessary.

"I can't see the Ice Knight being a problem," Garland stated. "he's a child who refuses to use his weapons. He only won tonight because he got lucky." He rested his massive sword against the corner of the room before turning to Jihl, crossing his arms. "We'll deal with him if he continues to be a problem."

"Well, give me some time sir and I can probably figure something out."

"What does it matter? Both King Farron and Archduke Braska are dead. Surely, Spira will take up arms and go to war with Eden once more. That will be more than enough to kill a child."

Jihl watched as the man walked away, leaving his massive sword behind. He only used it occasionally. What an unusual fighter…

* * *

><p>Captain Noel staggered slightly towards the two caskets sitting in front of the vacant throne before collapsing on his knees. Pulling his sword off his back he chucked it away, nearly hitting the young Hope as he smashed his fists against the ground. "He cannot be dead!" he cried out. "He just can't be." He sat back slowly, pulling his knees closer to his chest. He might be the Captain of the Royal Guard but he was still young, and deep down, he was a child who had just lost his father.<p>

"Noel Kriess, you need to accept that the King is dead." Barthandelus stated, cool as ever, acting as if his friend of several years had not just been murdered during the raid. "Only you and I can hold Eden Prime together."

"Who are you to talk?" Noel roared. "King Farron was like a father to me! You're just a cold-hearted man! Farron was the world to me! That is why I was his Captain! That's why it's my fault he's dead!"

Hope seriously expected Barthandelus to pick Noel up by the scuff of his shirt and start yelling at him. However, the man just continued to pace behind Noel as if the King never died. "Must I remind you that Archduke Braska is also dead. Spira will hold Eden Prime responsible for his murder. If they have not changed over the years, they will surely pick up arms and prepare to go to war with us once more. This is no time to cry, Princess Serah needs to be found and Eden needs to be restored to power. You have to put your emotions aside." he stated, calm as ever. Noel growled.

The older man turned to Snow and Vanille who were sitting beside the young man. The blonde fighter was playing with the transformed Shiva Ark. "You, boy, are now in possession of the Shiva Eidolon. The Ice Knight." he stated firmly to Snow. "You've made a pact with the Eidolon within the Knight, making you a pact maker, or how the Analects have called it, a l'Cie." he turned around slowly to look at Snow. "This Eidolon is a weapon, we don't know who made it or how it was made, but we figure that it was made in the image of one of Goddess Etro's Guardians. That is why they share the name Eidolon."

"So that's why it looked like a female until Snow touched the Ark." Vanille muttered. Barthandelus nodded.

"Seventeen years ago, during the fall of Cocoon, there were ruins that were uncovered. Within those ruins was a temple where we found Shiva. Knowing that we just couldn't leave it there, King Farron asked to have it taken back to Eden for safekeeping from the Raiders."

"So he always knew?" Hope asked softly. "He knew that the Gestahlian Empire was eventually going to come after the Eidolon?"

"The Gestahlian?" Barthandelus asked, somewhat surprised. Hope nodded.

"That's what General Garland said before he tried to kill Vanille and I."

"That makes sense, even back during the War of Transgression they were after the Knights." he muttered. "It was written that five of Etro's Eidolons were made into Knights after the destruction of the fal'Cie during the war." he walked around the room slightly. "The scholars tried to study Shiva, but at most, all they could confirm is that she was of Etro's creation. To keep this a secret they told everyone that they were Cocoon's weapons."

"If people were led to believe that the Eidolons were Cocoon's weapons," Vanille asked slowly. "wouldn't people question why Cocoon didn't use them during the war?"

"No, only those worthy can use the power of an Eidolon. The Eidolon chooses it's master. They aren't something like a sword that anyone can merely pick up and use."

"Yes, but he isn't trained." Noel, now recovered, complained loudly as he picked up his sword from where he had chucked it. "I know that he is no older than I but he's just a wine clerk! I've been fighting in the Royal Guard since I was of age to join!"

"I just did what I felt was right." Snow muttered, the first words he had spoken since the Princess' kidnapping. "I refuse to use a sword because I can't use a sword. I only know how to fight with what I got." He knocked his fists together as an example. "I don't know why Shiva chose me, she said she was expecting a Mistress, not a Master."

"There has to be a reason why Mister Villers was chosen." Barthandelus muttered as he paced around the room. "However, now is not the time, we should be preparing for almost certain war." He walked around to stand in front of the sitting blonde. "I need you to use Shiva and go after the Princess." Vanille saw Captain Noel start to walk forward but she started up faster, walking right up to the old man and poking him in the chest.

"Now you just wait a gosh darn minute!" She shouted. "Snow isn't part of the Royal Army! Why do you have to send him!"

"There is something I don't understand." Hope muttered, making himself known again. "We were told that the Empire had fallen with Cocoon, so was that also another lie?"

"No. The Gesathlian Empire was destroyed." Barthandelus muttered. "There must be a group trying to bring them back. Mister Snow continues to stay here with Shiva as there is a chance that they might try to attack Eden." Noel remained silent. "Snow is the only one strong enough here to get the Princess back." he stated firmly.

"You should solve your own bloody problems!" Vanille snapped, yelling at the man. Snow stood up slowly.

"I'll do it. It won't be for Barthandelus or Eden though. I'm doing it for Serah." He said, his voice firm.

"Then I don't think we have much time to waste." the older, dark skinned man from the night before said as he walked into the room. "If we want to find the princess we should get going."

"And you are?" Barthandelus left the question open, the old man chuckled as he pulled a gun from his holster.

"Sazh Katzroy. Just a humble travelling gunslinger. I reckon this old man can watch over the children." he said, ignoring the glares he got from Vanille.

"Then let me join too!" Noel shouted, walking forward, but Barthandelus held his hand up. Noel stepped back, knowing the request was denied as he looked over at Snow. The blonde man nodded at the Captain silently as he also nodded. A silent promise had just been made between them to get the Princess back and to protect Eden Prime. "I'll start the preparations for war then." he muttered, defeated as he walked away. Sazh sighed, shaking his head.

"I think we should head east for the Archylte Steppe tomorrow morning." he said to the three young adults. "It will be the best place to start."

* * *

><p>Snow yawned loudly as he stretched out his arms, nearly taking out Hope before he brought them back in. Old man Sazh walked up to the group, testing his shoulder and hearing it crack loudly in protest. Groaning he shook himself out as a small half grown Chocobo fluttered down and landed on his shoulder. Laughing, he brought his hand up and the yellow bird hopped onto his hand.<p>

"Your brother doing well?" he asked the bird. It chirped happily, fluttering around. Sazh smiled. "I sent a Black Chocobo after the Princess." he told the group, only Vanille seemed interested in the small bird. "He's carrying some equipment so if he does find the Princess, we should be able to track her to some extent. If it goes real well, we should be able to have a video feed from time to time."

"So this yellow Chocobo." Snow, now interested, started softly as he held out a massive hand to the chick. "Where is he from?"

"My son." Sazh muttered. "When I left home, my son told me to take him along. We've seen a great deal, the lot of us." he walked forward a bit to stand in front of the group of three. "So, we've already lost time. It's a pity that Eden's Chocobo Ranch was destroyed in the raid. The Princess was taken east so that probably means they were heading to the Archylte Steppe. The Grapa Whitewood will be our first stop on the way there." He looked at Hope with a smile; the boy was now wearing clothing appropriate for battle instead of his Highwind Wines uniform. Hope nodded as he and Sazh set off.

Snow checked over the Shiva Ark Armband that had replaced the usual Crest Amplifier he wore for battles. He missed Vanille watching him with a rather sad look on her face. Hope walked up to her, poked her, and dragged her along with him.

He was doing this for Serah.

* * *

><p>Princess Serah pulled herself deeper into the corner of the room, unable to sleep. Her dreams that night were plagued with the death of her father and with Snow, a boy she hardly knew, almost getting himself killed for her safety. What good was a depressed Princess to the kingdom anyway? She sobbed quietly. Her hand going up to the brown checked armband she wore on her bicep. She was alone and craved for someone's embrace but she just didn't know who could provide this.<p>

She wasn't aware that her room was bugged and that Garland and Jihl were able to watch her cry from a remote location on the airship. She pulled into herself tighter, hoping someone would come.

In another room of the airship, Garland and Jihl were having a petty disagreement over Serah. Colonel Jihl Nabaat continued to believe that they had captured the wrong girl while Garland seemed firm that she was the right one. He kept arguing that her magic was dormant until the right trigger was found to unlock it.

"I still find it hard to believe, sir," Jihl muttered, adjusting the glasses on her nose for the third time that evening. "even if she is the right one… wait…" she paced around the room slowly. "When eternal ages have passed and ancient scars are awakened at last, the sky will cry out for a blade long unseen to honour the daughter of the queen." she turned back to the still General. "It refers to one of the Eidolons and the Princess, I'm sure of it."

"Yes, but what Eidolon?" Garland muttered. "It's not Shiva, otherwise it would've unlocked by now. We need to keep searching. We know the locations, we won't stop now."

"Of course, General."

* * *

><p>Eden Plain was similar to Bresha Plain, so similar that even seasoned travellers got mixed up over what Plain is what until they either ended up at the Grapa Whitewood or at Bresha Village. The group moved slowly through the fields, the monsters were keeping to themselves and not trying to rip their throats out. No, they were lucky now. It was when they got to the Archylte Steppe where the Behemoth population wasn't kept low by the Royal Guard and where large Amadantoise roamed the land that they would be screwed.<p>

Sazh and Hope spearheaded the group as they walked down the main pathway. Vanille was in the middle while Snow, their tank, was in the back and lagging behind, his mind clearly not there with him. Vanille glanced over her shoulder again before biting her lip. She skipped over to Hope and poked him on the shoulder, hiding the cheery demeanour she had two seconds earlier.

"You think they would've attacked Bresha as well?" she asked softly. Hope made a face while Sazh shook his head.

"Little girl, you need to be more positive! More sunshine and daises, that's what's good for ya!" he shouted. Vanille giggled, a smile cracking on her face. Sazh approved of that easily.

They stopped for lunch halfway through the plain after running into a travelling merchant. He had mentioned to the group that the Behemoths were getting a little restless around the Whitewood. Hope felt a little unsettled about heading there. Young Behemoths were hard to take down, but fully grown Feral Behemoths were scary, although not as scary as the rumoured King Behemoths of the Archylte Steppe.

Three hours after parting with the merchant a Feral Behemoth stumbled onto their path. They tried to dodge it. Sazh even tried to lead them into the river. The beast caught them, however, charging at them with a mad frenzy. Snow ran to the front, prepared to transform, but Hope's well placed boomerang blinded the Behemoth on the right side. He took a couple steps back in surprise. Vanille and Hope flanked the beast with magics as Sazh fired at it with his guns. Snow kicked part of his Shiva Ark to life, the Amplifier working properly as a massive crest appeared on the back of his long jacket. He charged the beast and slammed a massive uppercut into the Behemoth's chin, forcing it up onto its hind legs early.

"Whoops." Snow muttered as the Behemoth roared, ripping it's hornblade out early and trying to smash Snow with a sunder. He quickly crossed his arms above his head and felt a Steelguard wash over him, protecting him from the attack.

"Fire!" Sazh roared as he released a Fira Spell. The Feral Behemoth staggered backwards slightly. "These beasts are weak to flame! Abuse it!" he directed the team before grumbling that he was too old to be in command. Hope and Vanille listened, their own magics charging. Snow provoked the beast as he walked backwards, everyone else on the team was too fragile to take the massive blade. He had to protect all of them.

After several more brutal hits, the beast finally fell to the magic power of the group, Snow being the shield. Hope, slightly winded, shot a glare at Snow. "We need a proper physical attacker on this team. Yes, we can all nuke, but guns and fists can only get us so far." Sazh laughed at the young boy while Snow's mind wandered off again, he had ignored the boy's comment.

A handful of triffids later they finally made it to the border of Eden Plain and the Grapa Whitewood. This was the the border between Eden Prime and Gran Pulse. Hope smiled softly, he always wanted to go through the Whitewood and see the world on the other side.

"Sazh?" Vanille asked softly. "Before Eden, Cocoon, and Spira, didn't the whole world used to just be called Gran Pulse?" the older man sighed as he pushed a tree branch aside, looking up at the covered night sky.

"A long time ago, yes, it was just Gran Pulse, Cocoon, and the Gesthalian Empire." he explained. "Of course, Gran Pulse and Coccon were around since the start of time. The Empire was quick to rise…" He eventually found a clearing and that was more than enough reason for him to simply sit down and sigh, the rest of them knowing this is where they were going to camp for the night. "You know how everyone's been saying that the Eidolons were created by the Ancients."

"Yeah." Vanille responded. "They're Etro's Guardians."

"Aha." Sazh held up a finger. "Yes and no. Actually, they are Etro's Messengers." He smirked when he saw the confused face Vanille was sporting. "Way back when the world was still young, when Eden and Spira didn't exist, where Cocoon floated in the sky and when the legendary fal'Cie still ruled the world, there were beings called l'Cie, pawns of the fal'Cie. When they fell into a moment of despair, Etro's Messenger would come to them, either delivering a message of hope, or one of a swift death."

"So if they were real beings, why did Etro turn them into Knights?" Hope asked, sparing a glance at Snow who was playing with his Ark again.

"That's the problem. As the war continued, things got worse. The sight of an Eidolon on the battlefield brought on more fear than hope. Etro, with the last of what little power she had, changed them and the l'Cie."

"That's right." Vanille looked at Hope. "Because Goddess Etro was made in the image of Muin, she was rendered powerless with only her Eidolons to help her. To have them changed as they were must have been a risk."

"Exactly. Only four of her Messengers were changed and the l'Cie lost their powers." Sazh explained, neither Hope or Vanille knowing where he had learnt this from. "She lost a lot that day, but it was just enough. Lindzei tried to counter attack by creating a couple of knights of his own. Etro's were more powerful however." He balled his hand up into a fist. "With Etro's Knights lead on by her Warrior Goddess, they defeated Lindzei's Knights and destroyed Cocoon, giving you the lore you have today."

"And Snow has one of those legendary Eidolons." Vanille muttered, amazed. Sazh nodded as the boy in question looked up at them. Vanille smiled at him, waving softly as he nodded back. Sazh heard a soft chirp as his small Chocobo fluttered down, a proud look on his feathery face.

"Yes! They got the relay working!" He grinned as he took a small microchip attached to the Chocobo's leg and pulled out his own datalog. "Now we can track and communicate with the Princess." Snow perked up at that. Sazh set the datalog down as a hologram of Princess Serah exploded to life before them. "Hello Princess!" he shouted out, loud as he could, waving his arms.

_"Is someone there? Hello?" _They watched Serah, no longer dressed in the gown she was kiddnapped in. The clothing she was in now made her look like a simple schoolgirl over royalty. _"I can't see you… oh… hello."_ The hologram moved closer to Hope, who shuffled back slightly. _"A Black Chocobo! What is that you have around your neck?"_

"Princess Serah, can you hear me?" Sazh asked, crossing his arms. "Maybe I don't have the settings right, it's been a while and this tech is old."

_"I recognize that voice, you're that elder gentleman from the night of the attack, aren't you?"_

"Aye, that I am. Sazh Katzroy at your service." Sazh saluted the hologram, Serah chuckled slightly. Sazh quickly spared a glance at Snow who was staring at the princess like a fish out of water.

"Are you safe Princess?" The young man asked quickly. Serah turned around on the spot and her gaze eventually landed on Snow.

_"Ah, I can see all of you now. Yes, I am safe. General Garland and Colonel Nabbat aren't as ruthless as they seem."_ She weaved her fingers together, playing with the bracelet that was on her wrist. _"How is Eden?"_

"Eden is fine, Captain Noel and Barthandelus are doing what they can to keep things stable until your return. We are coming to get you," Snow said softly. "can you tell us where you are?"

_"Captain Noel? That's excellent news."_ Serah smiled softly. _"I cannot really tell where I am, definitely overhead of some vast expanse. There are ruins below, maybe the Archylete Steppe?"_

Sazh chuckled softly as he started to rummage through his bag. Snow slowly walked closer to the Princess, holding his hand out in the false hope that he would be able to touch her. Serah was about to reach out herself, but something startled her, causing her to gasp and pull her arm back.

_"I need to go, sorry."_With that she disappeared, leaving Snow in the dark.

* * *

><p>Serah turned around just in time as Jihl and Garland walked in through the door to her room. Garland was chuckling, his heavy armour clanging with each chuckle. She looked the man over just once before her eyes narrowed.<p>

"You… it was you who killed my father… you awful excuse for a-"

"Now now Princess," Jihl cut her off, smug as ever. "you're in no place to speak let alone make threats."

"Then tell me, Colonel," Serah sneered. "what good is it for you to keep me here? My father is dead and my kingdom is in near ruins."

"Because of the Eidolons." Garland finally spoke, his massive voice echoing in the room. "These beings are much greater than even the scholars who studied them were lead to believe. Your connection to them, my dear Princess, is much much greater than you think it is. That idiot boy who was chosen by Shiva wouldn't have been able to even make contact with the Eidolon if it weren't for you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Serah muttered, quickly and firmly, crossing her arms. Garland shook his head slowly.

"I don't expect you to, I just need you to awaken your true abilities and connections to the remaining dormant Eidolons." He stepped forward slightly, his armour clanging together with each movement. "Of course we know you just won't sit down and listen, so we'll find a way. We will get what we want, Princess."

"Again, I don't know what you're talking about. I'm King Farron and Queen Brandford's only daughter."

"Oh… are you now?" Garland muttered softly before he and Jihl walked away. Serah walked backwards until her back was against the wall; from there she slowly slid down to the ground, her hand reaching for the weaved leather band on her bicep.

"Someone… please… help me." she whispered to herself, closing her eyes. "Please…"

* * *

><p>"Here we go." Sazh muttered as he pulled out a rather old map from his bag. He unfolded it and weighed it down with a couple of rocks. "They're in the Steppe, so that probably means they're heading to the Seaside Town of Bodhum since it's one of the two settlements on the ocean. It's the closest one to us right now and the Steppe has several different ruin sites that people have forgotten over the years."<p>

"Are the ruins like old temples or more like villages?" Hope asked slowly, Vanille nodding along madly in the background. Snow was still spaced.

"When Gran Pulse was still young, before Eden even came into play, there were several settlements. Some clans lived on their own, others were just nomadic." Sazh explained to them. "A lot of the ruins are abandoned settlements of clans who had given up their old ways when Eden came to power, others just died out throughout the wars." He sighed, looking at the map with a small flashlight. "There are some ruins just outside of Bodhum, that would be the best place to look after asking around Bodhum. However, we should rest for now. We'll get through the wood tomorrow and to Bodhum by nightfall."

Vanille and Hope nodded, returning to their sleeping bags as Sazh looked over at Snow, the young man still sitting at the base of a tree, fumbling with his Shiva Ark. Love struck and broken hearted at the same time. What a depressing sight.

* * *

><p>They had to be at least halfway through the Whitewood now. At least, that's what Hope guessed. The pests were a lot milder than the ones on Eden Plain. Mostly Crawlers, Noctilucale and the odd Gorgonopisd. Snow was still up in the clouds and basically useless. Eventually, they walked past something, a sword lodged in a stone, causing Hope to laugh loudly and stopping the group. "Oi, Snow!" He called out, breaking the blonde's annoying daze. "Free sword, right here! Why don't you use it?" he shouted as Vanille walked up to the weapon.<p>

"I don't recognize it." she muttered. "My father is a weapon smith; I know all the different types. This one here," she grasped the handle lightly, "doesn't quite fit the bill of a sword or a gunblade." She ran her hand over the small shield-like part that protected the hilt. She traced her fingers over the intricate gold designs on the blade. "We can't really just leave it here either. We should take it along with us. Maybe someone could identify it."

"Or kill us for it." Hope muttered, Vanille glared at him.

"Actually, there is a chance that might be an Ark." Sazh muttered. "Vanille, give it a go. Try to pull it out." He nodded at her while she gave a mock salute before wrapping her hands around the hilt and pulling, hard. The blade didn't budge and she eventually fell backwards with a squeak and a moan. Snow, for the first time since before the Princess' Party, laughed.

"Come on Vanille, you need more muscle!" he flexed his guns to make a point. Hope gagged. Snow wrapped his massive hands around the hilt of the blade that clearly wasn't made for someone like him, and pulled.

It didn't move.

He repositioned his feet and tried again.

He moved the whole rock, the sword still in it. He gave up with a huff. He waved over to Sazh but the man stepped back, shaking his head and repeating that he was too old for this kind of stuff. He looked at Hope and the boy walked up to it. He gently placed his hands on the sword and pulled like he was removing a knife from a knife block. To his and everyone else's surprise, it came free.

"The lad did it." Sazh muttered as Hope held the blade up in awe.

_You're not my mistress…_

Hope felt a dizzy spell come upon him before he shook his head to clear his mind. His eyes went wide when he realized he was no longer in the Whitewood but in an alternate dimension of some sort. He looked around trying to get a bearing but being on a floating platform in the middle of nowhere, there wasn't much bearing to find. He turned around slowly, eventually landing upon a massive white knight standing before him.

_Yet… you are pure of heart…_

"Who are you?" Hope asked slowly. "Are you one of Etro's Messengers?"

_I am the Blade of the Warrior Goddess._

"Right…" Hope muttered. This Eidolon must already have made a pact with someone, so he had a matching l'Cie somewhere. "Where is your l'Cie?"

_Lost in time, like many others. I try to reach out for her, but something stops me._The knight had answered as he knelt down before Hope. He could get a better look at his face, the horned helmet spoke of power while his face remained a stoic mask. A white cape somehow fluttered softly in the windless air. The white knight seemed depressed.

"My friends and I are travelling, maybe we can find her."

_I cannot ask for such a task from you._

"But you're an Eidolon, this is an Ark. There is a great evil searching for the Arks, if we leave you behind you'll definitely end up in the wrong hands. We can't chance that." Hope tried to reason with the bonded Eidolon. "Surely if things with the Gestahlian Empire end up the way they usually do in books, we'll run into this Warrior Goddess of yours, she won't stay hidden for long."

The knight hesitated for a moment before he stood up.

_You cannot wield me in battle, for I only listen to my Goddess… my Mistress… however I promised her long ago I will protect, and protect you I shall._ He crossed his arms over his chest, making it look like he was taking a vow. _When eternal ages have passed and ancient scars are awakened at last, the sky will cry out for a blade long unseen to honour the daughter of the queen._

Hope suddenly found himself in the real world just as quickly as he ended up in the knight's world. Vanille was smothering him, crying out for joy. He quickly pushed her away and shook his head, her enthusiasm dropped like a rock.

"So you're not a l'Cie?" she asked softly. Hope held up the strange looking sword and turned to Sazh.

"The Eidolon within the Ark has already made a pact but he cannot find his partner. I told him we would at least look, that way there he's with us and not here waiting to be found by the Empire."

"Smart boy, but did the Eidolon tell you anything? What his name is or who his partner is?" Sazh asked as he took the Ark from Hope, looking it over once. The young boy shook his head slowly.

"He called himself the Blade of the Warrior Goddess. That was pretty much all I got out of him."

"Well, Eidolons won't give their names to just anyone. Of course, if the Knight's body was found in the temple it was sealed in, their name would be known." He looked at Snow and his Shiva Ark. "This Ark is clearly a weapon, but the Warrior Goddess…" Hope figured Sazh was talking about the legend of Goddess Etro's hand chosen guardian. "She'd be dead now."

"So he waits for no one?" Snow asked slowly. "That's sad." he muttered, Sazh shook his head.

"If the Eidolon believes that their l'Cie is still alive, then the l'Cie is still alive. A bond is only broken when the l'Cie dies."

* * *

><p>"General Garland, sir." Jihl Naabat saluted when she entered the room, the massive man turned to face her. "That group of pestering idiots with Shiva, they're in the Whitewood and they probably have been having troubles with the pests." She sat down on a chair in the room as she pulled her glasses of her face to clean them. "If you camp out at the end you'll be able to cut them off, kill them, and take the Ark. It's a legitimate strategy."<p>

"Yes, I understand that much." Garland muttered as he walked up to the massive sword that was leaning against the wall. "But why must I go?"

"We saw how the boy killed Berserker without a blade. If it's that powerful without it, you can only imagine how much stronger he will be with it. We cannot afford to take that risk, take him out while he's still ignorant of the Knight's power." Naabat responded as she replaced her glasses. "Strike while the iron is still hot I'd say."

"Very well." Garland left his blade behind and turned towards the door. "I shall meet them personally and at the same time, show them the power of Diabolos." With that he closed the door behind them. Jihl exhaled loudly and collapsed forward onto the table she was sitting in front of. Being around such a being was taxing. Impossible, really. Her eyes slowly landed upon the sword he didn't take. Now why would he leave something like that behind?

* * *

><p>"That's utter bullshit!" Noel roared as he slammed his hands down on the table. "Just yesterday, you were saying we should prepare for war and now you're telling me to lay down arms and wait for Spira?" He stood up quickly, knocking his chair over. "How can you change views just overnight like so?"<p>

"Noel Kreiss, you are Captain of the Guard and not the King of Eden so do not act like so." Barthandelus snapped. Noel snarled.

"Well, you're not King either!" he roared, pointing an offending finger at the older man. "I cannot put up with this! I'm going to do things on my own with my own men!" he stormed out of the room, leaving everyone in a daze. One of the nobles turned to Barthandelus.

"With the Captain gone, could that not ruin anything?"

"How can it? He's just one young boy. His team might be strong, but they won't cause problems." Barthandelus muttered as he stood up and walked over to the window that overlooked the courtyard. He saw Noel leaving with Squall and four other men. He must have had the revolt planned. "Yes, he's just a rash young boy."

* * *

><p>They were nearing the edge of the Whitewood, the trees weren't as dense, and the sun was starting to set. Snow was starting to pick up speed now, showing a little more enthusiasm for saving the Princess. Vanille and Hope were talking to each other rather quickly, covering their own back stories. Vanille was adopted by Bresha's only Weapon Smith when she was really young. She was raised around weapons but instead of picking up the sword she decided to stick with a staff and a bow and arrow while learning the different branches of magic.<p>

Hope, on the other hand, lost his mother at a young age and lived with his father who ran the General Store in Eden. When he came of age he had the choice of working for his father or finding a new place to work. He chose to work for Highwind Wines, just for the experience, before he took over his father's store. He wasn't much of a fighter, he favoured his boomerang, and like Vanille, trained in both branches of magic.

"Shit."

Snow was the one who spoke, the group stopping just shy of the Whitewood's exit. General Garland stood before them with his signature massive sword missing. Snow quickly ran ahead and took a stance before the General.

"Garland! Give us back the Princess!" he roared throwing his hand out as his Shiva Amp kicked to life, a beautiful rendition of the twin sisters appearing on the back of his massive coat. The General of the Gestahlian Empire laughed loudly.

"Really now, you daft boy, you should be giving something back to me. The Shiva Ark belongs to the Empire, not some worthless fool such as yourself." he held his hand out. "Hand it over and I might spare your life."

"Not until you give us back Serah!" he snapped, Garland laughed again as he jumped down from the cliff he stood upon and landed in front of the group. He pulled a longsword from his belt and took a battle stance. Snow stomped his foot against the ground once more as Sazh unbuckled his guns from their holsters. Hope turned to Vanille, frowning as he watched Vanille prepare her bow and arrow, pulling out his own weapon before the fight started.

"This battle is going to be awkward as fuck."

Even though it looked that he was being weighed down by his massive armour, Garland was nimble. Even though he didn't have the massive sword that could cleave through a man flawlessly, Garland was powerful. Snow, being the group's only front line fighter, was struggling to even land a hit. Sazh was firing bullet after bullet as both Hope and Vanille fired off magical spells. Somehow the man was immune to both as he focused solely on Snow. He swung down with his sword as Snow hopped back to get out of the way but that was enough for Garland. Turning on the ball of his foot, he slammed his free armoured boot into Snow's stomach, knocking the wind out of him and throwing him clean off his feet. Slowly, he walked over to Snow and raised his sword for a killing blow. Just as he started the swing that would deliver the final blow, Sazh shot his hand, forcing him to drop the sword.

"You will not laid a hand on him, Garland." Sazh sneered, aiming his two weapons at him. Garland chuckled and chucked a massive Aero spell at Sazh and the two others, forcing them out of the picture for a little while, that moment of distraction was all Snow needed to get back up onto his feet. He threw a punch at Garland, his gloved fist knocking against the metal of the helmet. Garland stumbled backwards before shaking his head and bringing his own arms up. Snow threw another haymaker that Garland blocked before he punched low, catching Snow in the stomach again.

"You call yourself a Knight? You can't even fight!" Garland roared as he threw another jab at Snow. The blond quickly recovered and moved back to put more ground between them. He held out the arm that had the Shiva Ark attached, trying to threaten the General with a possible transformation. Garland chuckled once more as he held his hand out before him, a black sheathed sword appearing before him.

_"Let smoke and fire be your summon. Come forth, adversary of darkness."_ Garland spoke. Already, the group knew that he was holding onto an Ark and was calling upon his Eidolon Knight. They watched as he slowly pulled the sword from it's sheath. _"By the grace of Lindzei. Grant me your power! Diabolos!"_

Fire erupted from where he stood. Garland raised his hand up as a wicked black-clawed hand tore the earth from beneath his feet. The fire grew stronger as a black being, adorned in wicked looking, spiked black armour with a helmet that looked like a dragon, slowly stood up before them. Metallic wings erupted from it's back as it slammed clawed hand against the ground, electricity sparked as it pulled its hand upwards, a massive sword fitting for the seven metre tall knight rising from the ground.

"No way." Snow muttered, eyes as wide as they could be. "He cried out for Lindzei! He's one of the other Eidolons!"

"So they found the Black Knight, Diabolos." Sazh muttered as he looked at Snow. "Hey Trenchcoat! Maybe you should think of transforming, otherwise we're all gonna be trampled!"

"No need to tell me twice!" Snow shouted as he stood up. The Black Knight hadn't moved, as if he were waiting for Snow. At least he had some honour. Snow raised the arm that held the Shiva Ark and crossed his fist over his heart. _"Twin Rulers, arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of the winter wastes." _he muttered as he felt the Eidolon's energy spread through his body. _"By the grace of Etro! Grant me your power! Shiva!"_

A pillar of ice shot up from underneath Snow's feet and consumed his body. It rose up until it was the height of a Knight before shattering, leaving the transformed Snow in his massive icy armor. He looked himself over slightly, realizing that Shiva was slowly changing her appearance to suit his needs. A smoky haze, much like the mist from dry ice, wafted from the cracks of his armoured hands. His boots were much more bulky than the slender ones he had when fighting Berserker. He figured it would take Shiva a couple more transformations before she would have it right.

"Well, isn't that perfect." Sazh muttered. "Shiva is adapting to him instead of forcing him to adapt to her."

"So no sword?" Hope asked, Sazh nodded.

"No sword."

The Black Knight flared his wings again as he swung his blade out, a black fire engulfing the blade. Snow held his arms up, ready for a fist fight. Garland's echoing laugh could be heard from the body of the Black Knight.

"Shiva was once the Ice Maiden who specialized in magics and a small array of dances. You've forced her to become a Knight, and even then, pushed the might of a sword away. How ignorant can you become boy?" He charged, his movements much faster than before as his wings propelled him forward. Snow hardly had enough time to summon a Steelguard to protect himself when the spiked knight crashed into him, knocking both of them down to the ground. Snow took a fist to the face before he kicked the Black Knight off of him. The Knight spun around quickly, the trees around them trembling with his movement as he lunged with his sword. Snow caught it between his arms and torso, trying to rip it from Garland's grasp. Instead, the ice from his hands started to freeze the blade slowly, enough to force Garland to surrender it.

"You're still a fool." he muttered as Snow threw the weapon aside. Garland held his hand out before him and with an eruption of smoke it returned to him. "Eidolon and l'Cie must work together otherwise they're just two clashing forces." He slammed his blade downward, destroying the ground Snow was standing upon. He fell backwards with a cry as he felt Garland's sword pierce his shoulder.

"Snow!" Vanille cried out, Sazh held her back.

"He still hasn't mastered Shiva's power, he doesn't know what he's doing." Sazh muttered. "The fool! His arrogance will get him killed!"

Snow reached up and grabbed Garland's shoulder, the icy touch from his armour almost succeeded in freezing him. The move backfired, scorching his own hand, because of the Black Knight's affinity to hellfire. Snow cried out as Garland laughed once more; it was getting annoying.

"Do you not know? The Black Knight can only be rivaled by the White Knight! Your worthless Ice Knight cannot lay a hand upon me! Now die and give me the Ark!" Snow's body felt limp as his transformation started to fade away, the energy his disappearing armor made slowly reconstituted itself as a floating orb before them. Garland stumbled back off of the now-human Snow as the Shiva Sisters, Stira and Nix, burst from their summon in their true Eidolon form. While even though they were dwarfed by the sheer size of the Black Knight, it seemed like they still held an Ace against him.

"How? Impossible! Etro had changed all of you!" Garland cried out as he stumbled backwards, Stira had floated forward.

_Etro may have changed us, but her Warrior Goddess still leads us. Our form can be whatever our l'Cie needs us to be._

"The changing Ark, the adapting appearance of the Knight, now the Eidolons themselves." Sazh muttered. "Now I wouldn't be surprised if the Knights stopped being massive sky scrapers."

"The Warrior Goddess is just a legend!" Garland snapped. "You Eidolons just hold on to myth and story!"

_But are we not myth and story ourselves? Do your people not see us as soulless weapons?_

Garland growled as he stepped backwards, his wings flaring out as he floated upwards, quickly turned around, and started to flee. He was ill prepared for this turn of events. Stira eventually moved over to Snow and helped him up onto his feet.

_When eternal ages have passed and ancient scars are awakened at last. The sky will cry out for a blade long unseen to honour the daughter of the queen._

With that the two sisters were gone, leaving the group behind. Snow fell to his knees and, with a mighty roar, slammed his fists against the ground. Vanille ran over to him, trying to support the crying man as Hope looked at Sazh.

"What Shiva had said? About the blade and the queen? About the Warrior Goddess?" he looked at the sword he had on his belt. "The Eidolon in this said the same thing. This must be her Ark then."

"But why would Garland see her as a myth? Sure, we have only heard about this Goddess until the Eidolons spoke of her, do you think he is her Knight?" he hummed. "No, he can't be." he crossed his arms, thinking. "Four of Etro's Messengers and then the two of Lindzei's… that'd be the six needed for the Final Awakening." he looked at Hope and the ark he was carrying. "Then what purpose does the Warrior Goddess have in this? Why is she missing?"

"Sazh?" Snow muttered, sitting up now as Vanille still supported him. Sazh could see that the boy was truly defeated. "What is this Final Awakening?"

"If I were to guess, the end of the world probably."

"Snow, they'll never get Shiva." Vanille muttered, trying to sooth her lifelong friend. "We'll make sure of it."


	3. The Fearless Solider

The group of four was surprised to learn that the quaint town of Bodhum wasn't guarded by walls or anything of the sort. Instead, the uniformed soldiers who wandered about provided the town's protection. The group tensed a little bit as a soldier walked a little too close to them, giving them a once over before wandering away. Vanille frowned.

"They don't wear armour like the Royal Guard." she pointed out as she saw another uniformed soldier walk by. He was wearing a tan jacket with brown pants and black boots with pauldrons on his shoulders. The pauldrons were about the only thing resembling armour. "Is the military different here that in Eden?"

"Yes." A solider must have overheard them as he walked up to the group of four. "Eden Prime has the Royal Guard while Gran Pulse has the Guardian Corp spread out through the villages. Some of the Pulsian Clans have hunters who help us with monster control. We don't really worry much about civil war or invasion, everyone needs to work together if we want to survive."

"I like your thinking son, thank you." Sazh nodded, shaking hands with the soldier before he walked away. "As for the rest of us, we should look for some information about the Gestahlian Airship. I assume the bar would be the best place of all to look." They moved through the town as Vanille hummed.

"So Eden Prime has the Royal Guard and Gran Pulse has the Guardian Corp, what does Spira have?" she asked. Snow shrugged his shoulders as Hope crossed his arms. "I think it's the Crusaders. They used to be a small band of people called the Crimson Blades but it was blown out of proportion rather quickly as Spira came into power."

"It's hard to believe that a long time ago it used to just be Cocoon in the sky and Gran Pulse below." Vanille muttered. "I really do wonder who ripped Cocoon out of the sky though, it's amazing life on Gran Pulse didn't end."

"Yes… lucky." Sazh muttered as they pushed the door open to the bar that was located in a prime area on the beach. They stopped in the doorway just in time to see the patrons stop their conversations and stare at the newcomers. The group slowly moved to a table and sat themselves down only to watch two members of the Guardian Corp leave.

"At least it doesn't smell." Hope muttered as a small part of the crowd began to cheer. A dancer had made her way up onto the small stage at the back of the bar. Her hard character shoes tapped against the hardwood as she walked forward. Her pink hair was cut asymmetrically, a long curl draped down her left shoulder as the right side of her hair flared out into a set of soft spikes. She took pose and slowly raised her arms above her head.

The music started from somewhere and she started to dance gracefully, yet in such a way that it was appropriate for a bar in the mid afternoon.

Vanille looked up from her menu and caught Snow staring at the dancer. She looked over to the dancer just as she performed a flawless turn that flared out the long dress-like jacket she was wearing. Even her clothing was modest. It was tight against her body yet still revealed enough to show she was an attractive woman. She chuckled as she placed her menu down on the table.

"Mmm, Snow?" she asked, softly, her voice carrying a playful tone in it. Snow looked at her, a little lost for thought. "Should I ask her if she's single?" she asked, he spluttered on air.

"No! No! Not at all!" he looked back at the dancer who had now attracted the attention of a lot of men now. "She looks a lot like the Princess!" he covered up quickly, it had even caught Hope's attention as he looked over.

"Almost like… an older sister."

"Similarities like that can happen, we all know that the Princess was an only child." Sazh muttered. "But those aside, we must ask for some information. We can't move around in a group, the Empire might be around if what the Princess said is right."

"Right." Snow stood up, being the only one who hadn't looked at the menu. "I'll ask around, you know what else there is to do." he glanced at the dancer one more time before tearing his eyes away and walking towards the bar where a brunette was tending. Vanille and Hope looked at each other once before starting up a new conversation.

The large blonde sat himself down at the bar. The woman tending it was wearing a black leather vest with a matching skirt. She smiled at him once before pushing a glass of water towards him, somehow already knowing.

"Be thankful I'm not Lebreau, the one who owns this joint, she would be forcing Tequila down your throat before you can say 'Olé'." she smiled. "My name's Tifa, how can I help you?"

"Something to eat, I don't really care what it is." Snow muttered as he leaned in. "Actually, I was wondering if you could tell me something." he whispered. He failed to notice Tifa's eyes shoot from him to the dancer for a moment before she returned her attention back to him. "My friends and I are looking for a black airship. Have you seen any roaming the skies lately?"

"Hey! Look! The kid reckons himself an Information Broker!" a drunk patron sitting beside him laughed. "Look kid, you ain't in the right place to be askin'. Oerba is where it's at."

"Please ignore them. Bodhum is more of a tourist location than anything, word travels but nothing is really true. The Guardian Corps might know but they've been having troubles of their own, I highly doubt a black airship is high on their list." Tifa answered as she somehow conjured a club sandwich from nowhere and placed it before Snow. "You can ask around, but like these guys said, Oerba is the place to go if you want to deal with information."

"Thanks." Snow muttered as he took his plate of food and returned to the table. He noticed that his team had been served and Sazh was heavily enjoying a tankard of beer. Eventually, he set the empty glass down and looked around the room as a frown formed on his face. Snow, who was just finishing up his sandwich, looked up as even Vanille was pouting.

"It feels like I'm being watched." Hope muttered as he held his glass bottle of soda pop closer to him. Snow turned around in his seat back to the dancer who was still on stage, dancing solo, her kicks and spins as flawless as when she had first started. She flipped off the stage and landed on the ground, sashaying to the right once before turning again and stepping to the left. Her feet never stopped moving as she moved closer and closer to Snow's table.

Her next kick went wide and would have hit Snow in the face if he didn't lean back at the last minute. The dancer snarled as she quickly changed the balls of her feet and lashed out with her other foot. Snow jumped up onto the table as the dancer pulled a dagger from Goddess knows where and slashed at him. He jumped over her and threw a punch that she blocked with her arms. His team slowly stood up as other members of the Guardian Corp stood up from their spots in the bar, even Tifa had hopped over the bar and was pulling on a pair of leather gloves.

"What's going on?" Snow asked loudly as one of the soldiers pulled a sword from his belt and charged the larger man. Snow sidestepped him and tackled him full on from behind, knocking him off his feet. Vanille and Hope started to throw minor magic spells while Sazh danced his own dance out of the way as another man charged him and crashed into the table. Vanille had snagged a wine bottle from somewhere and smashed it over a guy's head before Tifa was upon her in a fighting flurry of her own.

Snow's attention was drawn back to the pink haired dancer with a dagger as she tried to stab him again. He ducked low, grabbed the sword the soldier had dropped and slashed wildly at the dancer. She leaned back and flipped to regain her balance as she threw the dagger at him, just missing his ear. Snow held onto the sword and swung at her again. This time, she jumped over him and used his wide shoulders as a vault to get even further away from him.

"Tifa, stand down." the dancer spoke, her voice firm and commanding. Tifa, who had both Hope and Vanille pinned, dropped her fists and stood up. She stepped back from the two and walked away as if the fight never broke out. Snow looked back and forth quickly as Sazh moved beside him, never taking his guns off her.

"The more I look at you, girl," he dark man muttered. "The more you look like a soldier girl."

"What the hell did I do?" Snow snapped at the pink haired woman who just smirked at him.

"Step outside." she muttered as she left through the front doors with the deadly grace of what could be called an assassin or a high ranking soldier. With the way she was dressed and the way the Guardian Corps worked with her rather than against her, it was hard to say. They followed her out, Snow not dropping the sword he had as the lady was waiting for them with two armed Guardian Corps soldiers standing on either side of her. She smirked that cold smirk again as she crossed her arms.

"Again, what did I do?" Snow shouted at the woman. She didn't say anything as Vanille drew her bow and arrow. The woman walked around her men slowly as she looked at them.

"Need I spell it out for you?" she asked slowly. "Your red head friend there has already figured it out." She walked behind one of her men and they heard the sound of metal singing. Before they knew it a Type-III Gunblade was being pointed at them. Vanille's eyes went wide with a combination of fear and awe. Type-III Gunblades were hard to make and damned near impossible to master. While most soldiers would choose just a simple gun or a sword, there were a handful that chose the Gunblade. They were complex weapons and many would just use a Type-II Gunblade, they had little range but a lot of destructive power.

Type-IIIs sat on a different scale than the Type-II. They were not stuck looking like someone stuck a barrel of a gun on a sword, but they were able to transform freely back and forth between a sword and a rifle. This woman _had_to be of rank.

"We want you dead." she stepped back as her two men took up arms in front of the group. Hope sighed as he pulled out his boomerang and held it above his head. The dancer stepped back, moving her gunblade, which was in rifle mode, above her head and firing just once. That was enough for her men.

They charged at the group, Sazh could tell that these guys were just rookies that the dancer was obviously challenging or was just really arrogant about her soldier's abilities. He fired his gun a couple times as he jumped back to dodge the swing of a baton before blocking the second with the side of his gun. He took a glance at the dancer again, the way she stood there… yes these men were rookies, and… hell… was she training them?

"You're crazy, Soldier Girl!" he shouted, firing a Concussive Shot at one of the soldiers, knocking him out. "What did we do?"

"You didn't do anything, I'm just doing my job." she muttered as Snow dug his sword into the ground and threw a massive uppercut that was enough to give the second rookie a concussion that would have him off his feet for a while. Snow huffed slowly as he picked up the sword again, he barely had enough time to bring it up when the pinkette was upon him, her sword form Type-III clashing against his ratty sword.

He overpowered her and threw her off, she flipped through the air and landed on her feet, swinging her blade around her head once for show. Vanille and Hope charged in with their magics but she reacted fast enough to throw up a reflect spell that had the mages' spells backfire in their faces, knocking them out for a bit as well. This left just her, Snow, and Sazh in the fight.

"She's definitely a force of her own. A Type-III and magics, a rare fighter indeed."

"Yes but we don't have time to fight!" Snow roared as he chucked the blade like a javelin at the woman. She leaned to the side as it went just wide of her. Snow held his arm our and roared. _"By the grace of Etro! Grant me your power! Shiva!"_

An incomplete chant meant that his power as a knight would be weakened slightly but he didn't care. He was soon towering over her as she looked up at him, taking a couple steps back. She wasn't afraid however, acting as if she had the power to take him out with just her natural magics.

"Bring it on!" he roared as Snow brought his massive foot down on her in a mighty stomp. She saw nothing after that.

* * *

><p>Slowly she came around, her head pounding as if it had been stomped on by a Chocobo. She paused for a moment, remembering what had happened and realized that being trampled by a Chocobo would have been a more embarrassing defeat, yet if that were the case, she wouldn't be suffering as much. She turned over and saw the redhead from before sitting by her bedside. Her eyes slowly looked around the room; the whole group from the bar was there, even her Guardian Corps uniform sat folded on the chair in the corner.<p>

"It looks like you bit off more than you could chew, Soldier Girl." the black man in the room joked. She sat up slowly, scowling.

"I think not." she reached into her bra and pulled out a small card. "Using this would've killed me." he walked over and snatched it out of her hand, looking it over.

"A pact card for an Undying." he muttered. "Where did you get this?" he asked. She didn't say anything and looked away from the group in her room. "Soldier Girl, please…" she still didn't say anything.

"Then… can you answer us why you, a Guardian Corps Soldier, were attacking us?"

"The Empire," she whispered. "They attacked Bodhum a couple days ago while I was out. The General… my father… was overpowered. They ran free, we can't do anything against them or they'll kill him."

"So, did they ask you to kill us?" Snow asked softly, she nodded. "And you said, 'yeah, sure' just like that? What happened to soldier honour?"

"It was my honour or my father's life." she snapped back. "A crossroads where you have to choose! I would have said no, but he's all I have… there are some things I don't want to do but… but there are things I have to do."

"Then the airship, you saw their airship right?" he asked quickly. The woman who was setting down a tray of food for the injured dancer looked up at Snow's outburst.

"I've seen the Empire's Airship, if that's what you're talking about." she said softly. Snow turned to her.

"Aerith." the dancer muttered, but she waved her off.

"I'm not Guardian Corps so I can speak outside the boundary they've set for the soldiers." she snapped at the pink haired woman. "I saw it head towards the vestige in the south; they say one of Gran Pulse's fal'Cie lies dormant in there. Again, it could just be a rumour."

"Then we go after them." Snow declared, firm as ever. The other members of the group nodded.

"Let me come with you then." They looked at the injured dancer as she stood up, acting as she hadn't been stomped on by a giant Eidolon Knight. "My name is Lightning, my father is General Amodar, and I need to go after the Empire to save him."

Snow turned to Sazh, a little uneasy about accepting the woman who had just tried to kill him into the group. But Vanille was already holding up Lightning's Guardian Corps uniform. They all looked at her when she smiled back at them. Snow turned to Lightning and held his hand out.

"Just Lightning?"

"For now, yes." she muttered, taking his hand in a firm shake.

"Well then, I'm Snow, and that's Hope." he pointed to the young boy in the corner. "The old man is Sazh and the girl with your uniform is Vanille." he crossed his arms. "We're going to need someone with your skills, our team is a little unbalanced."

"Don't think I'll be saving you on your quest to save your Princess." Lightning sneered, a smirk was curled in the corner of her lip.

* * *

><p>Vanille watched Lightning in awe as they moved throughout the town. Seeing her dance was one thing, seeing her fight was another. Watching her walk with pride was on an entirely different level. She didn't know if it was because Lightning's father is the General or if she just held such a position of honour in this small town. The red cape that was attached to her side flickered softly with each movement. Vanille just hoped in a few years time she could carry herself the same way Lightning did.<p>

They made it towards the south end of the city where it was fenced off with temporary fencing. Lightning 'tched' softly when they saw the armed guard of the Empire pacing back and forth, a simple sign that they didn't want anyone heading south. They quickly moved and hid in the shadow of a nearby building. Vanille could tell that Lightning was a natural leader, even Snow was following her without protest. She also noticed they had to be of similar age, yet Lightning's maturity was on a completely different level compared to Snow's.

"We have two options, we can walk around but that will take too much time." Lightning muttered, her hand reaching for the Type-III that was holstered. Vanille swallowed while Hope frowned slightly.

"The other option?" he asked, leaving the question hanging.

"We can fight through." Lightning pulled her gunblade out. "You stay here, I can handle this."

"Are you–" Snow didn't finish because Lightning was already charging the soldiers. The pink haired soldier lived up to her name as she soared through the air, her blade flashing as she cut an unsuspecting soldier down. That was enough to raise the alarm with the other guard but Lightning had already flipped her Type-III from sword to rifle and was firing at the guard. Even though guns were a weapon, they weren't commonly used and many of the soldiers fell because they were equipped for swordplay and not armour piercing bullets.

"Amazing." Sazh muttered as about a dozen guards were felled by Lightning. She didn't even seem winded after that feat. Snow was about to move out of cover when Sazh snagged him by the back of his jacket. Everything was silent with the exception of the telltale clanks of a Gestahlian Templar.

"Lay down your weapons and submit quietly." he snapped as he expanded his collapsed saber. Lightning scoffed as her off hand sparked with electricity that she hadn't used against the other men. With a roar, a thunderstorm erupted from the sky, shocking the man as she charged, her blade flashing. The group in cover watched as the Templar stumbled back, taking a hard hit to the shoulder by Lightning's blade as she flipped backwards. She made sure to kick him in the helmet before charging again, her armoured shoulder first before catching him. Flipping her Type-III into a reverse grip she spun around in a blitz before slamming her crackling hand on the ground, a spear of earth running the Templar through. She stood up slowly as the man fell back, dead.

"Points for trying."

"He never stood a chance." Hope muttered as Lightning wiped her blade clean of blood with the Templar's cape before walking back to the group. Vanille stared, no wonder everyone honoured Lightning. She had killed thirteen men in less than five minutes.

"Shall we go?" Lightning asked softly, as if the fight never happened.

* * *

><p>The rush to the Vestige was quick; when they got there, Jihl Nabaat and her cronies were waiting there with Princess Serah in hand. They could hear the Colonel yelling at Serah to use her magic to get into the fal'Cie home. Serah was struggling against her captor's grip as Snow ran forward.<p>

"Serah!" he roared, catching Jihl's attention. She looked at Snow, then at Lighting, then back at Serah, she chuckled.

"I knew there were some similarities between the two of you, Lieutenant, but I didn't think they were this scary." Jihl joked, Lightning stormed forward.

"Where is General Amodar?" she snapped, Jihl rolled her eyes.

"Well, you failed to kill the man I asked you to kill, you even joined him to boot!"

"The Guardian Corps has no alliance with the Empire! Now where is my father?" Lightning shouted, Jihl laughed.

"Probably where I put him last, in one of the few prison cells Bodhum has. I figured you'd go against me Lightning, so I prepared for it." she looked over at Snow slowly. "Now, boy, let's make this easy. Hand me Shiva's Ark."

"Only if you give us Serah back." Snow shouted. Jihl thought for a moment, then agreed.

"Place the Ark down between us, once I have the Ark, you can take your useless Princess back." Jihl yelled back. Snow nodded, slipping the Ark off his arm and walking forward with it. His group watched, Sazh could feel the tension in Lightning grow with each passing second. Snow placed it down on the ground as Jihl walked forward towards it. Kneeling down, she moved to touch it but a sudden barrier stopped her and forced her back onto her behind. That was more than enough for Lightning to dart forward to Serah's side and bring her around to the other team. Snow quickly snatched up his Ark with a laugh.

"Don't you know? Only the l'Cie can touch the Ark!" he shouted. Jihl looked around madly and spotted the Princess hiding behind Lightning, who was glaring daggers at her.

"Very well, if that's how you want to play." she waved two of her men forward, both of them pulling out cards of the Undying. "We'll play dirty too!" The cards lit up and the two guards were consumed, leaving behind two winged crystal beasts. The Undying. Jihl laughed. "Behold. Bituitus the Pillager and Mithridates, the Lone. Clearly, conventional weapons aren't going to work against a l'Cie, so why not pit l'Cie against l'Cie?"

"What are those?" Vanille asked quickly. Lightning answered for her as she stepped backwards, pushing Serah along with her.

"The Undying. They were l'Cie who became Cei'th back during the War of Transgression. Instead of giving up, they cursed their fal'Cie Masters and refused to surrender their connection to this world. They become fueled on their rage, hate, and blood lust." she said as she watched them fly around. While they weren't as big as an Eidolon, they were still taller than the average human. Lightning clicked her tongue and looked at Serah. She was their only good front-liner, if you could even consider Snow one. The Princess was clinging onto her as she uttered a chant under her breath, she couldn't fight like this.

"Lightning!" Sazh shouted at her. "Snow has this! Take the Princess and go back to Bodhum!"

"I can't just–" Lightning stopped when Princess Serah touched her arm. She looked down at the Princess who was looking up at her.

"I trust Snow and Shiva." she whispered. "We'll go back to Bodhum, find your father." Lightning looked back at Sazh and nodded; she took Serah by the hand and tried to lead her away as fast as the Princess could run. Sazh looked back at the Undying as Snow ran to the front.

_"Twin rulers arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of winter wastes. By the grace of Etro, grant me your power! Shiva!"_Snow roared. With a spike of ice, the massive Eidolon Knight stood before them, his frame changed to perfectly fit Snow's Sentinel build. Sazh walked forward a bit as Snow held his fists up. Either Snow had come to an agreement with Shiva or someone had unlocked the last of Shiva's power. He charged forward and slammed a mighty punch into Bituitus as Mithridates swooped down low trying to poison the immune Knight. Snow brought down a Blizzaga spell on the other winged Cie'th as he fought. Vanille ran forward as well, casting various debuffs, trying to slow down and weaken the beast while Sazh tried to shoot them out of the air. The older man turned to Hope who was still a little shell shocked.

"Go after Lightning son, I doubt that the Empire is going to let her idly run back to Bodhum with the Princess." he said. Hope studied the man for a minute before nodding, running off in the direction Lightning had left in. Sazh turned around in time to see that Snow had grabbed one of the Undying by the neck and was spinning him around, slamming it hard on the ground before crushing it under his metal boot. That was more than enough to kill it. Bituitus was still up in the air howling as Snow swiped at it with his fists before trying to take it down with magic. Somehow, the Undying realized it wasn't going to win and flew up to the peak of the Vestige, locking itself away in a cocoon of some sort. Snow looked up at it and thought that it was rather anticlimactic.

Still in his massive seven metre frame he turned to Jihl, she was clearing panicking now. She stumbled back with the last of her men and dropped a smoke bomb on the ground. When the smoke cleared they were gone. Vanille huffed, crossing her arms as Snow transformed back into human form.

"We gotta go find Lightning and the Princess!" Snow shouted, turned on his heel, and quickly ran back towards the town.

* * *

><p>Hope cleared the gates of Bodhum just in time to see an injured Lightning fly back and crash into the temporary fence the Empire had put up. Pegs were ripped out of the ground as Lightning took a large part of the orange plastic fence with her. Hope pulled out his boomerang with the idea to help her but stopped when he saw Garland standing in the crossroads. His massive sword in one hand and an unconscious Serah in the other. Hope groaned, knowing that he couldn't fight the General, let alone the Black Knight on his own, but if he could delay him until Lighting recovered, then maybe they would stand a chance.<p>

"Don't try little boy, I'll break you like a twig." Garland bellowed out as he dropped the Princess on the ground. He ran to Serah's side as Garland walked over to where Lightning was. He picked up the coughing soldier by the neck of her jacket and held her up off her feet. She held onto his forearm, trying to regain what little ground she could, but the cut she had on her forehead was forcing her to keep on eye closed as she tried to kick him. Garland backhanded Lightning on the injured side of her face, knocking her out as he threw her back at Hope and Serah.

"Pitiful humans, you never know when to give up, you never know when to flee." he muttered as he picked Serah up again. "Good day." With a flash of magic, Garland and the Princess were gone again. Hope kicked himself for being unable to save the Princess by himself but realized if the powerful Lightning was thrown around like a rag doll, he would have been crushed.

Slowly, he rolled Lightning onto her back and summoned up a small cure spell and placed it on the side of her head. The energy evaporated the blood and healed her concussion. Quickly, he removed his hand and tried again to close the wound. It had no effect. Her body, already having absorbed too much of his curatives for the day, refused to heal any more. He would have to get Miss Aerith to stitch up the cut. It was going to scar, the body could only take in so much magic in a day. He frowned. In all honesty, he would rather a small scar than trying to fight with a concussion, assuming Lightning would stay with them. He quickly ran back to the bar, bumping into Aerith who was on her way out.

"I heard what happened." she said quickly. "Word travels quickly. How is she?" she asked, already knowing about Lightning's condition.

"Bad, I healed what I could. She won't take in the magic to heal the cut on her head because she's already at her limit for today." Hope explained as they rushed over to the prone Lightning. Aerith pushed her hair aside and took a look at the cut. "Yes, that's going to scar. It's small and shallow, it won't take away from her beauty though." She picked Lightning up. "Come, let's go back."

* * *

><p>The group who had fought at the Vestige made it back, but it was too late. They saw Hope and another older man waiting for them at the outskirts of the town. Vanille rushed ahead to meet with Hope, worry in her eyes.<p>

"Garland defeated Lightning and took Princess Serah back." Hope said softly. "She's back at the tavern now, Aerith is fixing her up."

"Lightning… defeated…" Vanille muttered. "The way she took out that Templar, I thought she was invincible." The older man that was standing beside Hope laughed softly.

"Yes, my daughter does tend to come off that way." he said, holding his hand out to Vanille. "I'm her father, Amodar." he introduced himself as Vanille took his massive hand. "I doubt you'll find similarities between the two of us however, I adopted Lightning when she was young."

"Ain't that curious." Sazh muttered as he walked up as he saluted Amodar. "Sazh Katzroy at yer service."

"The same, now, may I ask, what is piquing your curiosity about my daughter?"

"Not your daughter, but this group." Sazh pointed to Snow and Vanille. "Those two are also adopted, Hope doesn't talk much about his family. Something is bringing them all together." They started to head over to where Lightning was resting. "I don't know if it's because the Empire is trying to bring the end of the world or if it's just fate. I have this feeling Lightning has a large role to play in this too."

"When they had me locked up, I heard them talking about Knights and their Arks." he looked at Sazh. "I thought they were just legends, the stories I told Lightning as bedtime stories when she was a child." he caught that Sazh was just starting at him, confused. "You know, like the story of the Armoured Dragon?"

"I don't think I'm aware of that one." Sazh muttered. "Sorry, but I'm just a traveller, don't hear much of children stories." Amodar chuckled.

"When Lighting was young, she loved knights and dragons. You know, the old fantasy type of things. Legend has it that before the Fall of Cocoon, in the Paddra Ruins, a black dragon named Bahamut killed a massive seven metre tall knight in combat. After defeating the Knight, he donned the Knight's armour and took to the skies helping Etro's Eidolons in the war against Cocoon. He was never defeated, never seen, and he never missed. People of that time used to call him Nightfury."

"That's the nutshell, isn't it?" Sazh asked. Amodar nodded as they entered the bar, the younger ones already having headed up to Lightning's room. "I think that's who the Empire is looking for but only we Pulsians can tell the ruins apart. They might have mistaken Anima's Vestige for the Paddra Ruins." Amodar sighs. "Anima lies dormant within and shouldn't be awakened at all. Like Titan and the last of the Pulsian fal'Cie, they shouldn't be disturbed, or life will start to die away."

"Then, General Amodar, if you allow it, and if Lightning wishes for it, may she accompany us on our trek to Oerba in the search for Bahamut? If the Empire is after him we can't take chances."

"Lightning needs a good adventure." Amodar sighed, crossing his arms as they entered the room. Vanille and Hope were already by Lightning's bedside as Snow stood in the corner, depressed once more at the lost of the Princess. "She just turned twenty-one the other day, she might be one of my higher ranking officers, but she's still young. I'll allow it."

"Are you sure Father?" they looked over to see Lightning sitting up in bed, a small bandage over the fresh stitches on her right brow. "If the Empire comes back…"

"Bodhum can handle themselves just fine Light." Amodar answered. "They caught us off guard the first time but I doubt they'll be back anytime soon. We'll be fine without you."

"Thank you." Lightning smiled at her adoptive father. "The battle against Garland broke the gunblade I was using, is Blazefire back yet?"

"The smith should be done with it by tomorrow morning. For now, I want all of you to rest here. You can leave for Oerba in the morning. Sazh, Snow, would you care to share a drink with me?" he asked softly, the older man nodded as Snow stood up from his spot. As they left, Lightning laid back down on the bed as Vanille brushed the hair out of her eyes.

"Something's bugging me." she muttered, Vanille gave her a questioning look. "Why does the Princess of Eden look so similar to me? It can't just be chance."

"I don't know Lightning. Fate has been messing with all of us lately."


	4. The Armoured Dragon

**A/N:** Updated November 25th 2011. Crystal Lore was changed, completed edited.

* * *

><p>The trek through the Archylte Steppe towards the Yaschas Massif was much longer and rougher than the group, minus Lightning, was used to. Lightning had taken point, letting old man Sazh, as he kept calling himself, take the rear to watch the younger kids. Snow tried to do everything in his power to show that he was just as skilled at harming things that Lightning was despite him being a year or two younger than her. So he made a game out of it while Lightning saw a challenge. While Snow was good at incapacitating, Lightning was better at killing.<p>

"So Soldier Girl." Sazh started when they made it to the much calmer Yaschas Massif, where only the odd small Flan and Alraune got in their way. When this happened, Lightning would just blitz right through them and then be on her merry way, nearly doubling her kill count over Snow's. "Do you know anything about Oerba other than that they thrive off the black market?

"I've been there a couple times, I usually have to ditch my uniform if I want to get information out of their traders and whatnot. The Guardian Corps does have a base there but their Hunters know much more and they'd rather give their information to a civilian with a sword over a uniformed soldier."

"So did you?"

"No, I don't think we'll have problems there but I think we'll need a guide or permission to get into the Subterra." Lightning answered as she pushed a log aside to clear a pathway. "Oerba is a little sensitive about it and the surrounding fal'Cie, not to mention with the extensive hunting they do, the feral creatures are much more violent. I might be able to handle a few on my own, a couple more with your help, but to travel through of an entire field of them?" she choked a laugh back. "We'll need a Hunter who knows the land better than I."

"But what about Oerba itself?" Vanille asked softly. "Do you know anything about it in general, Light?"

"Light_ning_." Lightning emphasised as if she had no desire to have a shorter name. Even her father had never once called her Light now that Vanille had thought about it. "Oerba's style of life is much different than Eden's. They might look similar to Bodhum, they're both even seaside towns." Although they couldn't really tell from Lightning's poor choice of words. "You'll see when we get to the Tsubaddran Highlands."

"So are all Pulsian Settlements seaside?" Snow chuckled. "They say that the Pulsians were once the strongest, but now–"

"You." She snarled while spinning around to press her finger hard against his chest. "You downplay my people one more time and I will end you. Even though Eden and Spira came to power generations ago, I still don't like them and I never will. You guys forget that once upon a time, you were Pulsian too." She pulled out a dagger from her pocket and held it up close to Snow's neck. "Yes, we might not be what we were back during the war, but our way of life, as diverse as it is, still goes strong. Why do you think Eden and Spira haven't tried to conquer us? We are free and we will always be free." she threw Snow down on the ground.

"Don't piss Soldier Girl off, Trenchcoat." Sazh sighed as Lightning brushed pass the group and ran on ahead. Both Vanille and Hope ran to catch up as Snow pulled himself together, remaining on the ground, sitting.

"I didn't think…"

"Of course you didn't." Sazh held out his hand. "I didn't know Lightning was protective about her heritage as well. To think we asked her to come with us on this trek after Cocoonian Weapons, she must be hurting."

"The Knights, they're not Cocoonian, you said so yourself." Snow looked up at Sazh who shrugged.

"Yes, I said that, so you know that, but who ever said that Lightning knows that?" he asked softly. Snow finally took Sazh's hand and allowed himself to be pulled up onto his feet. "Come on, before we lose them."

* * *

><p>It took them longer than Lightning had hoped to get to the Highlands and once they were there, it wasn't even what Lightning had hoped it would be.<p>

She could easily tell that the Empire had been by and were on the hunt for Bahamut. There were a few ruins in the Highlands and the dirt looked freshly turned. In a clearing not too far ahead, they could see body of a young dragon, it's scales having lost it's luster as it had to have been dead for a couple days now. Lightning ran up to it, placing her hands against the scales. She frowned softly, hanging her head. She stepped back softly and reached into her pouch. She produced a small pink crystal in the shape of a rose and held it up. The moment it caught the light the dragon shimmered softly.

"What is she doing?" Snow asked, stepping forward. Sazh stopped him.

"I don't believe it, they still exist, after all of this time."

"What still exists?" Vanille asked idly, Sazh sighed.

"Story has it that back when Gran Pulse was still strong, when Eden and Spira didn't exist, fal'Cie used to choose certain warriors to carry a burden. The fal'Cie would give the best warriors or guardians a crystal, a part of their own soul. With that crystal the warrior was granted stronger magics and a feirce strength, however there was one thing they had to do. When they see a slain dragon they have to preform a sending, and hope that they are not reborn human. For that was the will of the Warrior Goddess' Partner ." Sazh explained. "These people, were the Original l'Cie, made before the War of Transgression. They said that the crystal of a l'Cie could be passed on to a loved one, I didn't think it could be handed down by the generations."

"So the fal'Cie don't actually get anything out of that then, but if it was the will of the Warrior Goddess..." Hope trailed off as they watched the dragon fade away. He pulled out the Warrior Goddess' Ark as he felt it grow warm against his side. The gold markings were glowing, pulsing with the same beat Lightning's crystal was.

"Dragons are an unusual race, they do what they want. They're were not created by the Maker, yet they rival the fal'Cie in strength. There have many warriors who have followed the guidance of a dragon over the guidance of the fal'Cie."

"Like the legend of Kain Highwind." Vanille added, Sazh nodded.

"Exactly."

"Old man Cid said he was related to Kain Highwind." Snow sighed, arms behind his head. "I don't believe it, how can a foul mouthed 'Wine Guy' descend from such a great warrior? Bah!"

"Guys." Hope got their attention. "You might want to look at this." He held up the Ark for everyone to see. "It's been doing this ever since Lightning held out her crystal. Do you guys think that she might be?"

"I might be what?"

"Light."

"Light_ning"_Lightning spat at Snow again, he probably wasn't going to learn. The blonde man ignored her as he pointed at the sword Hope had. "Do you recognize that at all?" he pointed at the blade, Lightning frowned as she took it from Hope. The gold markings flared brightly at her touch, nearly blinding them all before dying down, lifeless. Lightning stared at the blade as she held it up; effortlessly, she flipped it from it's sword shape into one of a gun.

"It's a Type-V Gunblade, they're the new make. After the Type-IVs failed, they fell back on the stronger Type-III design until they came up with the Type-V. Where on Pulse did you find it?"

"The Eden Border, the Grapa Whitewood." Hope said. "The thing is, it's not just a Type-V Gunblade, it's an Ark for a White Knight. He spoke to me when I found the Ark, he is waiting for Etro's Warrior Goddess to come back to him." he stepped back slightly. "When you performed the sending on the dragon, it reacted, and I think it reacted to you."

"Me? The Warrior Goddess?" Lightning seemed amused. "It's possible. Why would the Goddess chose some lowlife orphan like me?" she handed it back to Hope. "Sorry kid, I'm not the one it wants. I was just some kid with a l'Cie's crystal and picked up by a General. In this day and age, I'm just a fellow Pulsian Loyalist." she turned away from them. "Come on, we're almost at the peak of the Highlands, there's a sight you need to see." she changed the subject as she brushed past them. "Something you Edenites normally wouldn't see in your sheltered lives."

"Awesome." Snow threw his hands in the air. "We pissed her off even more." The group looked at him once as they quickly followed the disappearing Lightning. "Lets go."

Lightning continued to lead them through the Tsubaddran Highlands. The monsters were retreating as they travelled, they didn't know if it was because of Lightning or because of the something that had killed the dragon. They had stopped again when they came by another dead dragon with golden scales. Lightning's anger died away quickly and was replaced with an air of depression. She pulled out her crystal and performed another sending on the dragon.

_"Requiescat in pace."_she muttered. "Only hope you're not reborn human." she walked away afterwards, up the pathway towards the next clearing where she waited for the rest of the ensemble. The group eventually made it up to where she stood and their breath was taken away. They could see Gran Pulse for as far as the horizon went. Off in the distance against the sea, a village sat. It had to be Oerba, Hope thought. Then, to the northeast of Oerba stood a tower that rose high up into the clouds. That wasn't all of it.

A magnificent being stood in the mountain range, made of black stone with an unearthly red glow in its cracks. A humanoid creature slowly walked around, watching the land.

"That, my Edenites," Lightning said. "is Titan. The fal'Cie that watches over Gran Pulse's ecosystem. He is a biogenitor. " she explained. "Titan consumes weaker species and gives birth to new ones, thereby providing the stimulation needed to prevent ecological stagnation." she recited as if she had memorized it from a book as she crossed her arms and leaned her weight to the side. "You have him to thank that the ecosystems in Eden haven't failed yet, he still sees Eden and Spira as Gran Pulse, although he isn't pleased that his land had been separated by us humans. It was never ours to split."

"Serah will reunite us all I bet." Snow muttered. Lightning glared at him.

"Never will I serve Eden or Spira, Gran Pulse is my home. I will join an Alliance with either, but I will never become one of them."she pushed him aside and walked away. Hope and Vanille glared at Snow again, he had pissed Lightning off yet again.

* * *

><p>Three hours later and Lightning had yet to cool off, she had taken point so far ahead that Vanille had to track her by her prints. Snow had stayed quiet, trying to figure out a way to stay, or to get, on Lightning's good side. Halfway down the spacious mountain side they found Lightning again, her gunblade out as she watched the skies. They ran up to her, Hope pulled out his boomerang while Sazh pulled out his guns.<p>

"Soldier Girl, what's going on."

"An Ancient Dragon is in the skies." Lightning said, her eyes never leaving the bright blue sky. "He seemed angry, I think he's after those who killed his kin." she explained. "I have a feeling that–"

She never got a chance to finish, a massive slate gray dragon shot out of the sky and landed before them howling out a massive roar before striking out with his claws. Lightning moved to the front of the group and held her sword up as a makeshift shield. The dragon's swipe knocked her clear off her feet and across onto the ground where she hit her head hard against the ground before slipping down the cliff side. No one noticed as they pulled their weapons against the dragon.

"It's massive, there's no way we can take it out!" Hope cried out as Sazh fired a couple rounds.

"We can't kill it." Sazh shouted back. "Lightning would kill us otherwise." he looked around quickly, unable to see her anywhere. However, his attention was quickly refocused to the enraged dragon as it attacked them again. Snow got in front and used a Steelguard to protect them.

_"Twin rulers arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of winter wastes. By the grace of Etro, grant me your power! Shiva!"_Snow roared as his Steelguard shattered. Quickly, he rose again as the Ice Knight before lashing out with a quick jab to the dragon's head.

"That's the way!" Vanille shouted as she summoned forth a set of debuffs to place on the dragon. Sazh and Hope started their own buffs to help them fight the stronger Ancient Dragon. Snow tried to keep the dragon pulled in, throwing jabs and kicks whenever he could, but somehow the dragon seemed to know that he was a brawler instead of a swordmaster. It took to the skies where they tried to chase after it with magical spells.

"If I could fly like the Black Knight!" Snow shouted as his blizzard spells went wide. The dragon attacked with a Flare attack, knocking the massive Ice Knight off his feet and onto his behind. "Dammit!"

"We can't win!" Vanille shouted to the group. "We need to run!"

"How? It will just kill us!"

What happened next was like a saviour and a curse. A Fire Lance flew from the sky and struck the dragon, causing it to howl out. Right afterwards a large black being sped down and smashed into the side of the beast before bouncing back, flaring out its black wings. Snow recognized it instantly.

"Diabolos! The Black Knight!" Snow shouted. "Why is he here?" he stood back up slowly as Diabolos summoned a sword from fire and smoke.

"No, it's a good thing he's here." Sazh shot back. "It means that the Empire hasn't found the Dragon's Ark yet. Remember! It's protected by a dragon! Protected by Bahamut!"

"So you think?" Snow looked down at Sazh, the Black Knight was still in the air so he couldn't hear them. "That they're the one killing all the dragons?"

"Most likely." Hope stated. "No one in their right mind would have the gall to kill a mighty dragon without reason. It has to be the Empire, and by the looks of it, it's Garland that's killing them all."

"Even then." Snow said as the dragon landed, the Black Knight doing the same and folding his wings in. It took a stance with it's sword, holding it above it's armoured head. Hope stared, it looked so similar to Lighting's preferred charge stance. The dragon charged the knight as the Black Knight swung upwards, knocking it off balance before he swung out again, smacking the beast with the flat side of his blade. Snow, not wanting to be caught watching, charged in with an uppercut that caught the Ancient Dragon off-guard. The Black Knight lashed out again but the dragon caught the sword by his teeth. The mighty dragon flapped his wings and went skyward, taking the Black Knight with him as they soared up into the sky again. The two beings fought it out, clashing, but the Black Knight had the upper hand. It swung around and struck the dragon on the neck, forcing it down onto the ground, defeated.

"Amazing..." Snow muttered as he turned back to the group. "Good, we should leave." he transformed back into his human form as he regrouped with Sazh, Vanille, and Hope. However, the Black Knight wasn't done. With a burst of magic, he speared the Ancient Dragon through the heart, killing it before floating down beside it.

"He's not here either." with that the knight flew off, the group just watched in horror.

"He killed it."

"We should get going." Sazh muttered. "We'll leave Lightning to deal with this." the group looked at them, not realizing that Lightning was still unconscious down the cliff side. Sazh believed she was still in cover, the Black Knight's appearance barring her from doing anything. "We'll take a break a little ways away, she can find us."

"Alright." Snow muttered, a little peeved about the Black Knight. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>A lone woman dressed in royal blue tribal-like clothing slowly made her way up the cliff side where the corpse of the massive Ancient Dragon laid. Dropping her red lance, she rushed over to the dragon's side, reaching out slowly to touch the beast's nose. No breath, what was she to expect? She knelt down slowly, running her hand across the scales of the dragon's head, her face expressed pain and sorrow<p>

"Who coulda done this ta ya?" she whispered softly before pulling her hands back and bringing her hands together in a short prayer. By no means did she find herself religious, especially when she was a hunter for a living. Sighing softly she reached into her pouch and pulled out a small fang shaped crystal. Slowly she raised it up so it could capture the sunlight. The moment it did it took on a glow and floated away from her. She stood up and backed away slowly as the dragon's body began to disappear.

"Well, my friend," she whispered. "there is always your next life to look forward to." she raised her hand up again when the dragon's body was gone, the crystal returned to her. She put it away and went back to her dropped weapon.

"Just pray that you're not born human."

* * *

><p>The group had all sat down for a break, trying to regain what little strength they could before they cleared the last hour or two before Oerba. Vanille was happy sipping away at the water stored in her canteen when she noticed a familiar pink haired woman walk up to them. She looked slightly dazed and her walk wasn't perfect. Hope might have healed her concussion back in Bodhum but she was still recovering. She was fingering her stitches just slightly, probably checking to see if they had split open.<p>

"Oh Lightning!" Vanille set her drink down. "Where were you?" she asked quickly, an expression flashed on Lightning's face, they never noticed her missing?

"Unconscious, fell down the cliff side. You could have helped or even noticed." she snapped.

"Sorry, we thought you had taken cover during the battle to attack from a distance." she apologized, Lightning just held her hand up. "We didn't know you had fallen to the path below."

"It's fine, I had to take a different route up. I couldn't send the dragon though." Lightning muttered as Sazh watched her softly before looking at Snow and Hope.

"I think it's a good thing the Black Knight showed up. That means they haven't gotten to Bahamut yet." he stated. "Lightning, are you good to continue?"

"I think so, just don't expect my usual stuff, the back of my head still hurts." she answered, Sazh nodded and lead the rest of the group towards Oerba. Lightning hung back for a moment, thinking to herself for a moment.

"By the grace of the Hallowed Lord." she muttered. "Give me strength." with that she turned on her heel and moved to catch up with the group.

* * *

><p>Oerba was a happening place the moment the group walked in, stalls were being installed and people were everywhere. An excited Vanille ran ahead while towing Hope along, who wondered in awe what was going on. They looked at Sazh and Lightning for explanation but Sazh looked confused while Lightning had this misty look on her face. Snow didn't look like he knew what was going on either. Vanille ran up to one of the villagers and smiled.<p>

"Hey, we're new here, umm… so what's all the festivities for?" she asked, the young man turned to them, confused.

"You're not from Gran Pulse then, are you?" he asked while looking over at the group. Lightning was standing a fair distance away from them at the moment. "It's the celebration of the new Pulsian Year; it's when the Zodiac sign changes."

"That's what I thought." Lightning said. "It's going to be the year of the Dragon tomorrow." the Pulsian Villager looked at her.

"You're with the group?"

"Kinda, mission for the Bodhum Guardian Corps, General's Orders." Lightning offered. "We need to get to the Paddra Ruins." The man made a face. "I still wish I were home though, first time in years, I'm going to miss the Pulsian New Year Festival."

"Bodhum, I wish I was there, their fireworks are amazing."

"Yeah. Anyway, New Year, sounds fun." Snow mumbled. "We're trying to get to the Paddra Ruins, you know how get there?"

"I do, but the Elders have forbidden it. You gotta ask around the market, look for some information brokers. They'll find a way to get you in." he looked around, nervous. "You didn't hear that from me." he quickly left, not getting what he probably was there to buy. All of them turned to Lightning to see if she had an idea on what to do next. She stared at them, dumbfounded for a moment.

"Well, we got a problem here. We probably need to ask around for information or find a Hunter to take us there like the original plan." she crossed her arms. "We should split up and ask around. Hopefully," she smirked at Snow. "no one will try to kill you this time."

About three hours later, the group met up again in front of the same stall they had departed from. None of them had any news. They asked around but they didn't get much information out of anyone. As if they knew something, but if they spoke, word would get out as it seemed news traveled quickly in this village. Lightning crossed her arms when Snow was the last one to arrive, rubbing the back of his head, no news to share.

"I don't see why we should ask for permission to get into the ruins." Vanille sighed, looking at Lightning who had taken the leadership role over Sazh. "Can't we just find a map and wing it?"

"Ya can, but you won't get to the Paddra Ruins. At least, not alive anyway."

Vanille stopped her short protest at the sound of the voice, the others looked over at Lightning. Leaning against one of the buildings was a tanned woman in a blue sari. She stood up from against the wall and waltzed over to the group. "And you are?" Lightning sneered, the woman smirked.

"Just an… interested party." she grinned. "The main entrance is blocked off and they closed off the Mah'habara Subterra months ago when the dragon attacks got real bad. They normally don't attack humans." she crossed her arms. "Word in the village says yer lookin' to get in there. Yer askin' for help in the wrong place."

"So you're an Information Broker, aren't you?" Sazh asked, the woman barked a laugh.

"I ain't no Broker but I can get the information I want without a sweat. Nah, I'm one of the few hunters here that refuse to join up with the Guardian Corp." she said, giving Lightning's uniform a once over. That also means yeh can't ask one of them local officers cuz they're in charge of not letting people in, for their protection." she took a couple steps back over to a red lance. "Now I can get ya in."

"You have to have a reason, no one would just risk their life for the possibility of being killed." Lightning sighed, leaning her weight over to one side. The woman snarled.

"I was just out there in the Valis Media and I had to perform a sending on three slain dragons! Three! Somethin' out there is killin' 'em and I wanna know why! I was gonna go ta Paddra on my own but after hearing there was a party of five trying to find passage, I figured it would be the smarter idea!" she shouted at Lightning. "Or are yeh tellin' me. Miss Guardian Corps, that yer better than us Hunters?"

"I had to perform a sending on two dragons myself." Lightning exclaimed. A normal person would have backed off but that woman just pressed onwards. Vanille giggled quietly as she leaned over to Hope. "I never expected that to happen to Lightning, you really need to have the courage to stand up to her like that."

"Or the stupidity." Hope muttered. The woman suddenly glared at him, sharp hearing, he figured.

"Oh, so now you're telling me that you've been touched by a dragon too?"

"I have been... however, I did not want to imply that us soldiers are better than you hunters, I think it comes down to the skill of the individual." Lightning stated cooly. "I know the standards and customs here are slightly different in Oerba than in Bodhum, Eden or Spira. I thought that asking around for information would be the smarter thing to do."

"Love, in Oerba the people who run the black markets have more say what happens here that the ratty old Elders. They keep us to the old customs, the ones who run everything underneath keep us up with the times. We just had a buncha black goonies here askin' to get a guide into Paddra too. I told the other Hunters to let them fuck themselves but I doubt they listened to me."

"Well that suddenly explains everything." Lightning grumbled. "I was wondering why no one was telling us jack. You told them not to!"

"Damn well it does." The woman grinned, stepping into Lightning's personal space. "Gonna do anything about it?"

"Alright, everyone, calm down." Sazh quickly placed himself between the two before a full out fight would be breaking out on the street. "You can rip at each others throats later. Right now we have no plans for going to the Mah'habara Subterra tonight. We're looking for a place to stay, recover from our trip here and figure out what's going on." he looked over at the woman. "So miss…uh."

"Fang. Oerba Yun Fang." Fang stated quickly and smoothly, holding out her hand. "Don't ask if it's an alias, it's my real name." she placed her hands on her hips. "Even if it wasn't the dragons attackin' humans in the Subterra and the Ruins, you still gotta worry about our good ol' trailblazer friend Atomos down there. You have to know what paths to walk otherwise you're in the grinder, literally." she waved them to follow her.

"So Atomos still runs." Sazh sighed. "I thought after all of those years since he was created, he would've stopped by now."

"Of course not." Lightning snapped. "Where the hell have you been living? Under a rock?"

"Something like that." Sazh grinned while rubbing the back of his head, Fang chuckled.

"It's fine, a lot of Edenites and Spirians were told that the fal'Cie had perished along with Cocoon. It's very rare we see them in the Steppe." she raised up hand for a moment. "Their loss, Titan is certainly a sight you'd wanna see at least once in your life."

"Now, although it's communal living here, people still give me space. Probably because I wasn't born here, I tend to…" Fang turned around to face the group. "Stand out."

"Don't we all." Lightning whispered, gaining yet another laugh from Fang.

"I like you, what's your name?" she asked, Lightning crossed her arms and looked the other way.

"That makes one of us." she muttered, Fang frowned.

"Don't mind Soldier Girl there." Sazh sighed. "It takes a while to get on her good side."

"I like you old guy who's name I don't know!" she slapped Sazh on the back.

"Yeah… thanks." Sazh said. "So did all the Gran Pulse fal'Cie survive or just Titan and Atomos?"

"Well, I'm no scholar, your Soldier Girl might know more than I since she's Pulsian too." She glanced at Lightning and discovered the soldier was glaring daggers at her. "Well, you knew of Titan, so that means Eden and Spira also know. Atomos still roams the underground and Bismark still has the oceans. Some travellers say Dahaka still roams the sky. They don't have much of a purpose now as they used to, but they still keep life going. So I'm not complainin'."

Sazh didn't know how much further they were going to walk. Oerba seemed nearly three times the size of Bodhum. They had to be in the center of the village and if Fang lived on her own like she said, she would be on the outskirts.

"So, you said you're not born here, but your name, it has the Oerba title." he brought up, not realizing that the group still hadn't introduced themselves to Fang yet. The woman sighed.

"Even if I wasn't born here, I was still raised here, that's enough for the Elders. Names and titles, they don't really mean much to me. I'm Fang, no one is gonna change that on me." She stopped in front of a small building that looked like a home. "Now, before I even think of letting you guys in. I wanna know your names."

Sazh chuckled.

* * *

><p>The tension in the air between Fang and Lightning was even thicker than when Lightning had first joined the group. The group had swiftly learned that Fang was just as skilled with a lance as Lightning was with her gunblade. It got to a point where Fang had openly challenged Lightning into a kill count race against the beasts of the Archylte Steppe. By the looks of it, neither women was the type to back down from a challenge so the endless slaughter of feral beasts had began. The more docile animals were left unharmed, it was the ones gutsy enough to think they could beat the huntress and the soldier in battle that were killed. The Gorgonopsids and the King Behemoths were the only ones, thankfully, who took the challenge; all of them were dispatched with ease. Snow figured if they didn't have the Pulsians with them, they would be relying a lot on the Ice Knight to get them through the Steppe.<p>

"I didn't think they would get along." Vanille pointed out as they watched the two team up against a Behemoth that swung at the two warriors with it's mighty sword. "I mean, with all the fighting they did last night, you'd think they wouldn't be able to coordinate in battle." They watched as Lightning's gunblade sliced into the Behemoth's neck as Fang jumped up and brought her lance down on the beast's spine, killing him.

"I'll just count our lucky stars then." Sazh sighed while looking at Snow, who seemed to be lost in thought. "Thinkin' about the Princess again Trenchcoat?"

"Yeah." Snow grumbled as Lightning and Fang, both slightly breathless, rejoined the group. Fang placed her hands on her hips as she smirked.

"You haven't stopped thinkin' 'bout her since I met ya. This Princess Serah must be hot." she looked at Lightning with a grin, the soldier responded with a not so amused look. She held her hands up, wondering what she had said wrong. "Oh, now you're gonna to go all high and mighty cuz I asked if the _Princess_ was hot. Judgemental much?"

"I never said anything." Lightning snapped as she crossed her arms. Fang stepped into her space and fingered the set of dissolving stitches on the soldier's brow.

"I never said you did." Fang responded. "Now, how did an amazing fighter like you end up with these?"

"General Garland of the Gestahlian Empire." Hope answered for Lightning. "He's the only person, aside from a fully grown dragon, to defeat Lightning in a duel."

"The man isn't human." Vanille muttered as Fang looked at Hope, then at Vanille, then back at Lightning.

"General Garland eh? The same goons that went through Oerba looking to get into Paddra?" she stepped back to give Lightning a once over before holding her hands out. "How big is this guy?"

"Massive and with full body armour. Most of the time, he uses a massive sword that can transform into an axe. There was one time we fought him and he didn't use it, he opted for a regular longsword instead. That was when he transformed into the Black Knight and defeated Snow though."

"And you took on a full grown dragon?" Fang asked Lightning; the pink-haired girl really didn't look pleased.

"Yes, I blocked for this team because their Sentinel couldn't get a Steelguard up in time. Nearly broke my gunblade and my neck when I took a tumble down the Highlands." she crossed her arms. "They say the Black Knight killed the dragon but I didn't get a chance to send it."

"Well, if we got lucky, it was one of the three I sent when I was in the Highlands yesterday." she turned away from them and into the general direction of the Subterra. "Let's pray that they're not born human." she sighed. "Come, Mah'habara is 'bout an hour's walk from here. We're almost there."

"Hey, Fang." Vanille ran forward a bit. "I was just wondering about Paddra."

"Go ahead, I think it would be best if we avoided combat for a while so we can talk." Fang reasoned with a shrug. The others didn't complain.

"It used to be a human settlement, why did the dragons take over?"

"Paddra was one of the first settlements to fall during the War of Transgression. It was just a small religious village with no fighting forces of their own. When Cocoon's PSICOM Army attacked them, the Guardian Corp and the Hunters couldn't get there in time. They fell within hours."

"You speak as if you saw the fresh ruins yourself." Sazh stated; Fang sighed.

"I dream of them sometimes, the whole war too. It feels so real, as if they were memories of a past life." she grinned as she glanced over her shoulder. "Of course, it might be because I have a l'Cie's crystal. They do say that those with one are cursed with dreams of the War of Transgression."

"The only downfall." Snow said, looking at Lightning. "So Light."

"Light_ning_" Lightning spat.

"Have you ever had those types of dreams?" Snow continued without missing a beat.

"No." Lightning said, also not missing a beat. The grin on Fang's face fell.

"Well then." The Oerban started up again. "Years after Cocoon was taken out and Bahamut had defeated one of Etro's Eidolon Knights, he had made his home in the ruins, the other dragons naturally drawn to his power."

"Wait, you know of the Knights?" Sazh asked quickly. Fang was just the newcomer to the party, how would she know?

"The dreams, I see them sometimes. The Dragon Knight and the White Knight fighting side by side with the Warrior Goddess." Fang said. "I remember that dream since I was a child. I don't remember when I got the crystal. Hell, I think it's just something the people made up for people like Lightnin' and I. I've been all over Gran Pulse, and Lightnin' is the only other person I know with a crystal to send the dragons off." she sighed. "Last night, I had another dream, Bahamut this time, being attacked by men dressed in black armour. Our time is limited. I'm thinkin' the Empire will get to him first, try to draw him out."

"Then we make haste." Sazh stated.

* * *

><p>The Mah'habara Subterra was exactly as they thought it would be: a mine abandoned during the off season. Fang was the first to walk in, pushing aside a destroyed mech that blocked the path. Running her hands over the cuts on the rusted metal, she could tell that they were recent, that the Empire had been through the mine already. She looked back at the group with a frown.<p>

"They got here first. The only advantage that we have right now is that I know the land better than they do; I know the shortcuts and the paths Atomos doesn't run on. If we get lucky, the fal'Cie will do us a favour and run them all over." she chuckled. "Come on, I can get us to Paddra in about thirty minutes if the mechs don't get in our way." she ran ahead, the others chasing after her. Hope groaned.

"Really, when something big is afoot, we need to run?" he complained, picking up his pace to chase after them and already hearing the telltale sounds of Fang's lance and Lightning's gunblade clashing against the mechs along with Snow's roar of Steelguard.

"Typical."

They rushed out into the open and right into the overgrown ruins of the once religious village of Paddra. The first thing Snow saw was Princess Serah being held back by an armed guard from the Empire. He also noticed Jihl was there too and she had a whole squadron of guards with her.

"Serah!" Snow roared as he ran forward. Fang looked at Serah, then at Lightning, and then back at Serah before looking at Lightning once more.

"Did you know your clone was royalty?"

"Aware Fang, very aware." Lightning sneered as Jihl turned to them all.

"You meddling kids! I can't get away with anything! And I see you've picked up a new dog as well!" She shouted pointing at Fang. "Always showing up in the nick of time! By the looks of it, you got another front line fighter to boot." she looked over at Lightning with a smirk. "So Garland was right, you are a tough son of a bitch."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Lightning shot back as she pulled out her Type-III and took a stance. Fang did the same with her lance as Snow stood in front of them all. Jihl chuckled as Serah struggled against the guard's hold on her. She cried out for Snow but the guard pulled her back as a slim man with silver hair stepped forward. Fang's eyes went wide with realization.

"You! You son of a bitch!" Fang pointed her weapon at the newcomer. "Yaag Rosch! You're helping these bastards! I thought you were the Lieutenant Colonel of Oerba's Guardian Corp!"

"I never was." Rosh stated. "I was always here for the greater good of the Empire. I knew the Dragon's Ark was somewhere here in Gran Pulse and finally we've tracked it down. It's only surprising that you, the only one with the dragon's gift, would be here as well."

"The crystal?"

"She's not the only one." Lightning sneered as she stepped forward to stand between the two. "I too have a crystal."

"Bloody Etro." Jihl muttered.

"Why are you searching here anyway?" Sazh asked. "You won't find the Dragon's Ark by looking."

"I'm aware of that my good sir." Jihl grinned. "We're waiting. We heard from the Black Knight that the Dragon is protected by an armoured dragon, Bahamut. So we decided to wait. With five of his kin dead, he'll be enraged and surely come home to seethe in peace.

"Why wait?" Snow shouted as he stepped forward. "We'll beat you all, right here, right now, and take Serah back!" he stomped the ground once for show as Jihl chuckled, pulling her collapsible saber from her belt while Rosch pulled his own saber, a Masamune Type-XIII, from his sheath. The guards all pulled out their weapons as Jihl started the charge against the six-man team. Snow quickly attracted the attention of the guard while Fang and Lightning burst through to attack Jihl and Rosch directly. Their weapons clashed as Fang and Lightning stood back to back. Jihl and Rosch moved in unison, striking in such a way that if the two women didn't have the natural coordination that they had, they would have been beaten as soon as the battle had started.

"Is it just me or are we getting stronger?" Snow ask as he brought down a guard with a crushing kick to the side. Vanille shot a couple of other guards down with well placed arrows as Sazh and Hope's magic brought down the rest. Snow ran over to the captured Serah and with one good hit to the back of the head, dropped the man holding Serah back and saved her once again.

"Snow!"

"We're here, Princess." he said as he lead her back to his side of the ruins. They looked over to where Fang and Lightning were deadlocked. Rosch used a Thunder spell to break them apart. Jihl chuckled as she walked backwards, the two female fighters not moving.

"Both of you were chosen by the dragon and both of you were brought together, isn't that ironic?" she looked around and saw that Serah was back in Snow's hands. She raised her hand into the air. "Our warm-up act is over, now it's time for the main event!" Blue magic covered her, Rosch and Serah, who was in Snow's hands, teleporting them away leaving them victim to a massive purple and black armoured dragon who was soaring in from above. He was easily twice the size of the Ancient Dragon they had fought the day before as he crashed down on the ruins, however he didn't have the form the other dragons had, he almost looked like a glider.

"That's Bahamut?" Snow asked, Lightning ran forward.

"No, he's not an armoured dragon! He's an Eidolon!" Lightning shouted as the glider-like dragon began to unfold, taking on a more humanoid shape before crying out a roar that shook the ruins down to the stone base they stood upon. The Eidolon was easily the same height of a Knight, no wonder Etro's Weapons were so massive. Fang and Lightning fell back a bit as Snow ran ahead to claim the field before them, his Shiva Ark glowing brightly.

_"Twin rulers arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of winter wastes."_ He shouted as Fang and Lightning flanked him on either side, building a front line defence against the enraged Bahamut. _ "By the grace of Etro, grant me your power! Shiva!" _With the traditional spike of ice, he transformed into a massive seven metre tall knight that left Fang staring in awe. Snow brought his fists up against Bahamut, who did something similar with his claws, as they started to circle each other. Snow lashed out first, trying to strike the dragon, but the beast was faster. Bahamut began dodging and swiping at him with his claws. Snow jumped back, his weight causing the ruins to shake even more.

"How are we supposed to defend ourselves from an Eidolon?" Sazh shouted as he cast buffs upon the party. "You're asking for the impossible! They can't fall in battle!" he shouted as Vanille shot three blinding shots at Bahamut. She glanced at Sazh as she reached for her dwindling stockpile while asking herself how Sazh knew something like that. True Eidolons hadn't been seen since the creation of Etro's Knights. She looked at Hope, he just shrugged his shoulders while chaining a set of Fire Spells. Fang had jumped up and had managed to land on Bahamut's back. The dragon cried out as Snow managed to land an icy punch to the side of Bahamut's face, sending him spiraling out and crashing into a set of stone pillars that crumbled with the impact. The dragon howled and broke into a whirlwind with Fang still on his back. She stabbed her lance between the plates on his back, causing him to howl out as Snow landed a three hit combo against the dragon, staggering it.

"There!" Lightning shouted as she charged forward flipping her gunblade's modes twice before her adrenaline spiked, slowing time down for her as she laid down her own dance of hits, kicks and shots at the damaged Eidolon. She got up to where Fang was hanging on for dear life and kicked the woman's lance free as Fang jumped off the back of Bahamut and flipped in the air once. Just as Lightning finished her Army of One routine, Fang came down with a Highwind as Snow kicked up with a massive boot, shooting the Eidolon's head back and throwing him off and onto his back.

"They did it." Vanille whispered, lowering her bow and watching as Snow transformed back to his human self. "They knocked him down."

"Yes, but he's an Eidolon, he won't be down for long." Sazh stated, Vanille frowned.

Bahamut slowly sat up before trying to get onto his feet. The group watched as the Eidolon stood up for a moment before falling down onto a knee in obvious pain. He looked up slowly, scanning the group, his gaze falling on the Ice Knight, then Lightning, finishing up with Fang. He dropped his eyes and let his head hang.

_I... I have made a grave mistake this day._ Bahamut spoke for the first time, his voice deep and strong. _The death of my kin has blinded me with grief and rage... I was not aware that I was savaging the one I was bound to serve._He looked up at them again, Sazh's eyes went wide.

"Then the Dragon's Ark..." He looked at Fang who chuckled slightly, tapping the tattoo on her left upper arm, Sazh shook his head. The girl and dragons, why didn't he think of it sooner?

"No! This is not happening!" they were all interrupted at the return of an angry Jihl Nabaat with Rosch still with her, holding onto Princess Serah. "How could she be the one? A child!" Sazh turned around at her, pointing his gun at her.

"I've been looking for you Nabaat!" he roared. Jihl ignored him, pulling out a Card of the Undying.

"Yes, everyone has been as of late." she sighed. "I still have one last Undying and I doubt it would be wise to use it on poor Princess Serah." it started to glow as she held it up to herself. "May I introduce to you, the strongest of the Undying, Vercingetorix." she smirked as the light consumed her. Leaving yet another winged Cie'th before them. Yaag Rosch didn't look amused and Serah could only stare in horror. They watched as the Cie'th spun around once in the air as its wings glowed, a single Wind Shear taking out Bahamut and forcing him back onto the ground. Weakened and defeated.

"She just used the card on herself!" Vanille shouted. Fang spun around towards the transformed Jihl and charged her, jumping high into the air as she spun her lance around once so she knew the spearhead was facing down. She landed feet first on Vercingetorix's face, smashing it hard against the ground, the stone cracking underneath their impact before driving her lance deep into it's stomach, the stone cracking even further, pinning it. With no blade to pierce into the heart, it was not yet dead. Lightning was about to move to finish off the Undying but it was still struggling too much. With Fang at the eye of the storm she was protected; if the others got too close, they would have easily been cut up.

Fang pulled a dagger from a hidden sheath in her boot and with a cry, stabbed Vercingetorix in the open brand on it's chest, silencing it. If it was forever or not, they weren't sure, but Fang didn't care. She raced over to the falling Bahamut's side, skidding against the stone ground to be beside the massive being. He tried to push himself up off the ground but couldn't, he was just strong enough to move his silver armoured head to look at her.

_It's you... it really is you..._ Bahamut spoke. _Finally... you have returned._

"What do you mean I've returned?" Fang asked quickly. "I don't know what you're talking about, this is my first time meeting you. How I wish the circumstances could be so much different..." she spoke, the dragon smiled the best he could.

_At the end of the war, after the Warrior Goddess was put to rest along with her followers, I was given the task to guard the Dragon Knight's power. Unlike the other Eidolons, I was allowed to roam the skies freely to accomplish this task._ he explained softly. _I have guarded this power, my power, your power, waiting for the day I could return it to you, my dear partner._ He looked around the room, his eyes landing on everyone, finishing with Lightning yet again. _The White Knight still awaits the return of his Goddess while the others wait to be found by their partners once more. But finally, I can serve you again, like I have before, countless times in countless ways. I am your knight, I am your Eidolon, I am who you want me to be, Oerba Yun Fang._

Fang slowly stood up as Bahamut's body began to shimmer. Slowly he transformed into what looked like a belt with a dragon head clasp, Fang knew exactly what this was.

"The Dragon's Ark."

"So Fang is also a l'Cie." Lightning breathed out in awe, looking around them. Her eyes fell onto the Type-V Gunblade that was at Hope's side. It was pulsing with power like before when she was upset, like it was calling out to her, but she ignored it. It wasn't for her, she wasn't the missing Warrior Goddess. It didn't matter that Princess Serah looked similar to her, no, not at all. It wasn't her place to shine, no, it was Fang's. She smiled softly. Yes, it was definitely Fang's turn, she deserved it.

_We are together again, Oerba Yun Fang. The power of the Rift is once more yours to control_. Echoed throughout the ruins, Fang walked over to the pinned Undying Cei'th and ripped her lance free. Vercingetorix rose up again, energy escaping from it's wings as it's true power began to flow freely. At the same time, Princess Serah, in Rosch's hands, snapped to attention as a blue aura surrounded her while she uttered something. Fang flinched as if something inside of her had awakened from a long sleep. She could feel it now, the energies, the Rift. Slowly, she turned around to face the powered up Cei'th. With a cry, it swooped down at her, trying to take the Ark. She jumped out of the way, landing on top of one of the many remaining pillars of the Paddra Ruins.

"Hey! Hey you!" she provoked the Cei'th. "Yeah you! Jackass the Butterfly!" she snapped as she held her lance out, pointing the blade at it. "I don't get pissed off, but if you got any last fuckin' words now is the time to say them!" Vercingetorix swooped at her again, Fang just jumped up onto a higher pillar. "Yeah, thought so." she smirked as she released the Dragon's Ark and held out her lance, watching as it snaked up the handle of the weapon and wrapped around the hand that was holding onto the handle tightly, it's mouth just barely around a summoning symbol.

_"Emerge from the midnight void. Come forth, master of the rift. By the grace of Etro." _she slammed the mouth of the dragon's head closed before crying out with a final roar. _"Grant me your power! Bahamut!"_


	5. The Dragon Knight

The Dragon Knight rose up before the group, proud and strong. Hope noticed that the transformed Fang hardly looked any different than that of the humanoid Bahamut with the exception of the helmet. Instead of the face of a dragon, it looked like a traditional Edenite Dragoon Helmet. Her hands, instead of being the glowing claws of the Eidolon, were just black steel claws. The transformed Fang stood just slightly shorter than the Ice Knight, barely seven metres. Snow was a large being so it reflected the image of the Ice Knight. While Fang didn't stand seven metres tall, the difference didn't take away from the impressive sight that she was. A massive trident-like lance had appeared in her hand with a swirl of dark magic; unlike Snow, Fang wasn't afraid to have a weapon. The recovered Vercingetorix floated upwards and shrieked as orange and red energy escaped its body, making it look bigger than it actually was.

"Come on!" Fang roared, her voice echoing throughout her massive helmet. "Yeh stupid butterfly! You don't threaten me! I defeated you without Bahamut! I can kill ya _with_Bahamut!" she stepped forward and spun on the ball of her foot, lance following as she smashed it against the Undying. Vercingetorix spun out of control for a moment as Fang pushed off the ground, hand reaching out to grab the Cei'th. The Undying whirled out of her grip and fired off a Wind Shear that had Fang stumbling backwards. With a growl, she swiped out at the small butterfly Cei'th with her hand but it moved out of the way and into the path of her lance as she swung it like a bat. "Get outta my fuckin' face!" she roared.

"Lightning! Do something! Help Fang!" Hope shouted as he turned to the shoulder, holding up the Type-V Gunblade. "Now that she's a knight she's lost her natural speed! If you can distract Vercingetorix, Fang should be able to spear it!"

Lightning looked at Hope and then back at Fang. The dragon warrior was lumbering around, trying to attack the smaller Cei'th. The Cei'th was making things difficult so she had to resort to first using her hand to swipe at it, then swinging her lance around for the blow.

"The Dragon Knight needs to be able to fly to be effective, however with her own size and the size of her enemy, Fang is at a disadvantage." Sazh explained. "We can support from the back line but you, Lightning, need to take the front line."

"Bahamut had wings, Fang doesn't have them right now." Vanille added. "She hasn't awakened fully yet, you need to help her!"

"Are you still trying to say that this Ark is mine?" Lightning spat as she snatched the Type-V Gunblade out of Hope's hands. "It can't be mine! If it was mine, it would have reacted to me by now."

"Yes, there is that." Hope said. "But after I made an agreement with the Eidolon within, no one else has been able to touch it. Lightning, you're holding onto it."

"It's not mine." Lightning said again as she chucked it back to Hope. "You got the wrong person, I'm no l'Cie."

"But you have a crystal!" Sazh insisted, hearing another Wind Shear howl throughout the ruins. Fang grunted as she took the brunt of the attack. "Fang has one too and it turns out she was chosen to be a l'Cie! Why do you deny that there is a slim chance that you might be one too?"

"Yes! There is a chance!" Lightning shouted back. "But all of you are implying that I am Etro's Warrior Goddess. I'm barely twenty-two years old! So tell me, how can I be a warrior from a war that took place hundreds of years ago? The Ark of the White Knight is not mine!"

"Then just help her, any way you can." Vanille whispered in a small voice. "Please, Lightning, Snow is skilled but he isn't as skilled as you."

"I heard that." Snow muttered as he continued to watch Fang fight the Undying. They were right, she looked amazing and her form radiated power, but that was it. Unable to take the skies and with the size of her enemy, Fang wasn't ready to fight as the Dragon Knight just yet. Lightning looked over and sighed softly.

"I'll help her then." she flipped her Blazefire Saber out into its sword form. "I do have to wonder, who really won when they decided to make the Knights as large as they are?"

"There might be a way to control your size when you transform." Sazh suggested, "But that's a theory for another time, right now Fang needs help defeating that thing. You just need to give her an opening long enough for her to pierce the Undying through the red mark on it's chest, it's already been cracked with Fang's first attack so the second should be enough to kill it."

"Alright." Lightning stated as she ran forward. Fang paused her hit and miss pattern to look over her shoulder. "Let's do this Fang!"

"Right on it!" Fang shouted as she swung as Vercingetorix once more. This time, she slammed her lance into the ground and kicked her feet up, one of her massive booted feet crashing into the beast. She skidded around with her momentum but it left her body in such a way that Lightning was able to dart upwards, using the Dragon Knight like a ramp to get above Vercingetorix with ease. Lighting raised her gunblade above her head as she came down on the Undying, flipping her body just at the right time so she could slam her feet against it's head.

"That's the way!" Fang shouted as she stabbed her lance forward. Vercingetorix shifted to the side, letting Fang rip one of its eight wings off, but that wasn't enough to stop it. Lightning reached out and grabbed onto one of the blades of Fang's lance as she fell, dangling for a second before pulling herself up while flipping her gunblade and firing at the transformed Jihl.

"Fang, I'm gonna Adrenaline Time the beast. When I'm done, stab at it." Lightning commanded. "There is a risk you might hit me with your current size but if we want to end this before all of Paddra falls on us, we got to do it now."

"By all means, I'll follow you, leader." Fang half heartily taunted Lightning as she took a step back, winding her lance back for a thrust as Lightning prepared for her own attack. Vercingetorix rose up slowly, unable to guess their next moments as Fang lunged, stabbing her lance forward just as Lightning pushed off, giving her the extra speed boost she needed to jump the Undying Cei'th.

"Adrenaline Time." Hope said, hearing the two plan out their next attack. From his point of view, Lightning's movements had sped up. She kicked and shot at the Cie'th, her movements following her Army of One pattern. She finished with a flip backwards to land on Fang's shoulder as the Knight lunged forward at the dazed Undying. The moment her lance made contact Vercingetorix folded its wings in against itself, forming a protecting shell that rebounded back on Fang, throwing her off balance, but the impact was enough to shatter one of the living crystal wings off the Cei'th. The Dragon Knight fell backwards just as Lightning pushed herself upwards, reaching out and grabbing onto the ledge of one of the ruined stone pillars that made up the Paddra Ruins. Fang fell back with a might crash that shook the stone, Lightning nearly slipped and fell eight metres with the vibration of Fang's impact.

"Snow, you're going to have to help them." Sazh muttered as he watched Lightning pull herself up to the top of the pillar. A skilled dancer, fighter, and a climber, what couldn't she do? Lightning scanned the field, first looking at her team and then to the fallen Fang. The transformed warrior was groaning softly, trying to force her massive body to move. Lightning then looked to her younger clone, Princess Serah, still in Rosch's hold. She turned to Vercingetorix and held her gunblade over her shoulder, provoking the Cie'th to take aim at her. With a shrill shriek, the Undying charged at her. Instead of aiming at Lightning, it took out the pillar she was standing upon, causing everything to tumble down, burying the soldier in broken stone.

"Lightning!" Serah cried as her magic flared, surrounding her body and the downed Dragon Knight. Snow quickly ran towards the front line.

_"Twin Rulers, arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of the winter wastes."_ Snow shouted as he tightened the strap around his Ark. _"By the grace of Etro! Grant me your power! Shiva!"_he quickly transformed with ease, moving forward as he swung his arm upwards at the Cei'th. Finally, a sword appeared in his hand as it made contact, smashing yet another wing off Vercingetorix. The unbalanced Cei'th spiraled away as he turned to Rosch. The silver haired man looked up at him but Snow blasted him back with a burst of controlled magic, freeing Princess Serah once more. Kneeling before the princess he held his hand out.

"Princess, are you hurt?"

"No, don't worry about me, worry about Fang and Lightning!" she said as she climbed onto Snow's open hand. The Ice Knight raised his hand up, allowing Serah to climb onto his shoulder and hold onto the side of his helmet as he turned to Fang. She was finally back up on her feet, growling.

"Fuckin' jackass." Fang snarled as she stood back up, her wings flaring out. Seconds after her recovery, a burst of electricity blasted the rock Lightning was buried under. They all turned to see the soldier, who was battered and beaten but still standing strong, as her element surrounded her off hand. Vercingetorix chuckled softly as it took to the air. Fang, now reawakened with the ability to fly, lifted off the ground and swept by Lightning, the smaller soldier grabbing onto the Dragon Knight's hand and pulling herself up onto her shoulder. Snow watched from the ground, prepared to catch Lightning if she was to fall. They could hear a gunshot as the soldier shot at the beast while Fang engaged it in aerial combat. The two of them combined was able to chip off two more wings, leaving it with just three. The Undying was starting to become desperate as it's movements became more wild and unpredictable. It swooped down at Snow who tried to slice at it with his new sword, but he missed. Fang darted down from the sky, Lightning jumping off her and clinging to the side of another pillar just as the Dragon Knight crashed into the Cie'th, pinning it back down onto the ground. Snarling, she took her lance and tried to kill it again but it formed a protective shell as a last line of defence, which forced Fang back into the air again as it escaped. Lightning, from her perch on top of the pillar, narrowed her eyes.

"Fang!" she shouted. The Dragon Knight didn't need to be told twice as she flew by Lightning, the soldier jumping up and clinging onto her armor as Fang rose to meet the Undying once more. Snow took two steps backward to watch them as they flew higher and higher.

"Lightning... she almost looks right at home fighting alongside Fang like that." Serah whispered beside Snow. He didn't say anything as he lifted Serah off his shoulder and placed her back down on the ground before transforming back. Above them, Lightning had pushed off of Fang and had broken out into her Army of One attack once more, relying on her adrenaline to give her the speed advantage she needed. With one last kick, Vercingetorix stumbled, allowing Fang to get in behind and drive her lance right through the Cie'th body. Lightning started to fall but Fang kicked her leg out, giving something for the soldier to cling onto.

"They did it!" Sazh exclaimed as Fang landed down in front of them before transforming back. "By the gods, they killed the beast!"

The beaten Undying crashed before the Dragon Knight before reverting back to the clearly beaten form of Colonel Jihl Nabaat. Coughing, the woman struggled to stand, she was clearly confused.

"How? Vercingetorix was the strongest! It would've taken at least two skilled knights to bring him down, yet with just a single knight and a human..." She looked at the two. "Just who are you?"

"Two of Gran Pulse's best." Fang snarled. "Just goes to show ya that teamwork can beat power any day."

"You little–" Jihl was cut off when a saber pierced her chest from behind, causing her to cry out and the group to react in surprise. The group tried to hold back their surprise when Garland walked out from the shadows behind Jihl, chuckling as he did so.

"A shameful performance, Colonel." he said. Jihl slowly turned to face him, holding onto the weapon lodged in her chest.

"General... you're betraying our Lord's wishes?" she asked weakly. Rosch beside her smirked.

"On the contrary, I serve them." Garland spoke. "Our Lord gave us orders, a role to play, and it was one you played poorly." he walked over to Snow and Serah. Snow quickly placed himself between but Garland just pushed him away with ease, reaching out for Serah who was stumbling backwards. Hope and Vanille ran forward to help Serah but the General spun around, a burst of magic knocking them off their feet. "Goodbye Jihl, your service is no longer needed. You've been... let go."

"Don't you dare touch Serah!" Lightning shouted as she charged the man with her gunblade. Garland was still the better fighter, he brought his sword up to block Lightning's gunblade before shooting his other hand out to grab the soldier by the neck. Slowly, he lifted her up again, much like he did in Bodhum. Fang cried out but didn't move, for Garland had placed his massive sword on the ground and pulled out a dagger.

"You have a role in this too, Lightning." he smirked. "I've been watching you too. Call it denial but everything is just locked away. Slowly, it will all come back to you, one nightmare at a time." He stabbed his dagger into Lightning, lodging it into her left breast before a wave of dark magic flared. She choked as Garland growled in detest before tossing her aside like a rag doll. Lightning crashed against the ground, unmoving and bleeding from her wound.

"Lightning!" Both Fang and Serah roared as the huntress ran over to the pinkette's side, Vanille following with her curative magics flaring.

"Lord Caius... you..." Jihl uttered her last words before finally falling, leaving the group in shambles. Snow slowly sat up, unable to believe that they had lost the Princess once more.

"We need to go back to Oerba." Fang declared as she watched Vanille heal Lightning's wound. "Why did Garland only come out at the end? Why did he only attack Lightnin'?" she asked, the group shrugged as Hope stepped forward.

"I think she's the Warrior Goddess." he said. Fang looked up at him as he held out the White Knight's Ark. "It's been reacting to her ever since she joined us but it's never resealing the pact between them. Either Lightning is in denial or Garland has a role between the two of them."

"He is the General of the Gestahlian Empire." Vanille told her as she finished off closing the wound. "This makes it twice now that he's just targeted Lightning. She ought to be important."

Hope looked at Sazh, who clearly had reclaimed the title of party leader. He crossed his arms, looking at the battered Lightning and the exhausted Fang. "Even then, he's the Black Knight. If his aim is to kill Lightning to get the White Knight's Ark, he won't be able to use it. A l'Cie can only be bound to one Eidolon, not two." he said to Hope. "Solider Girl is just one tough girl. Let's head back to Oerba, rest up and figure out what to do next."

* * *

><p>They made it back to Oerba with relative ease, the monsters avoiding them on their return trip as they were probably aware of what happened to their kin. Fang wasn't complaining though, she was the one stuck carrying Lightning.<p>

"Do you think Garland poisoned Lightning?" Hope asked softly as Fang pushed the door to her home open. "I mean, they've fought twice now and I bet if she wasn't unconscious when he helped us fight that dragon, she would have attacked him again."

"I don't doubt there is a connection between the two of them, even Princess Serah had grown attached to Lightning pretty quickly." Sazh said. Fang had laid Lightning down on the couch as the group sat around the kitchen table. She made her way back into the kitchen, running her hand through her hair.

"She's having a nightmare." she spoke, Hope and Vanille looked at each other.

"Garland said something about those." Vanille spoke. "That everything is locked away, that she will slowly remember."

"So do you really think she's the Goddess?" Hope asked Fang. The Oerbean looked at him before going into her kitchen, looking for food to make and share with the group. "I guess not."

"It's hard to say." Snow added. "We have the Ark and she's held onto the Ark, but there has been no reaction. Either she knows something and is just hiding it, or, for some reason, she's just able to touch the Ark while the rest of us can't."

"It's something someone is going to have to ask Lightning herself." Sazh said. With that, all eyes were on Fang who was holding onto a package of steaks. She looked back at them, wide-eyed.

"Me? Are you crazy?"

"Out of everyone here, she seems the most comfortable around you, probably because you're a fellow Pulsian. She doesn't hold the rest of us in high regard."

"I see... I'll talk to her when I can." Fang muttered as a knock on her door interrupted her. Frowning, she set the food down. Vanille was quick to jump on cooking as Fang made her way to her door. Upon opening it, a familiar face greeted her.

"Matron?" she asked loudly, enough for the boys to lean over their seats to see who was at the door. An elderly woman with a warm, yet sad, smile on her face could be seen; she had a letter in her hand.

"I wish the day never came where I had to give this to you, Fang." she spoke, her voice soft and gentle. "But I fear what has happened to you was a fate destined for you." she handed Fang the letter. "You were always different as a child."

"I don't understand." Fang questioned. "What do you mean?"

"The letter says the rest, I must leave." the Matron said quickly as she stepped away, leaving Fang in the doorway with the letter in hand. She looked back at the group, who were squabbling in the kitchen over what seasoning to put on the food, and decided to go into the other room where Lightnng lay to read the letter. Sitting down on the armrest of the couch, near Lightning's feet, she slowly opened the letter, letting the envelope drop to the ground. The paper was aged yellow, the Matron had to have been sitting on this for a long time. She glanced at the prone Lightning just once before opening up the letter.

_My Dear Fang_

_I pray that you will never receive this letter, that fate will let you live a peaceful life. Even as I write this, I know that it's just a fool's dream. You are different Fang, and in all honestly, that is what I love about you. However there is something you must know, and seeing with the recent turn of events, you should know._

_When you just the young age of seven, a man came to me and left you in my care. I don't know how much you remember of that meeting, for I hope it has been some time since that fateful day. The man told me. 'Raise this girl like all the other children you care for, give her a quiet life, a peaceful life.' I did not know why he would place emphasis on something so simple, but as I write this, I finally understand. My dear Fang, I fear that you are destined to never live a peaceful simple life._

_That man was called Fusoya. He lives in Eden. If you were to find him, then perhaps you could learn more of the past that you do not remember, why you hold onto a dragon's crystal. Now is the time for you to decide whether to follow your fate, however hard or fight against it. Fang, it is your choice to make, and remember, no matter what happens, no matter whatever anyone says, you will always be part of Oerba, part of the Yun who had taken you in. May you forever be strong._

Fang hung her head, trying not to ruin the letter in her hand. Why she was always different, why the people of Oerba gave her space, it all made sense now.

"Fang?" she looked over to see that Lightning was awake, sitting up slowly. Fang didn't say anything as she looked away. The soldier just sat there with her in silence, it was more than enough for the both of them.

* * *

><p>The two Pulsians made their way into the kitchen after Fang had calmed down. Dinner was ready and Vanille had set two plates aside for them. Fang sat down at the table while Lightning opted to sit on the counter, away from the group.<p>

"So who was at the door?" Snow asked softly, Fang sat her glass down and sighed.

"The Matron from the orphanage I was raised in. She had a letter." Fang explained softly. "The letter spoke of this man, Fusoya, how he had left me in her care when I was seven. He seemed to have known about the relationship between Bahamut and I." she said, playing with her food idly. "He lives in Eden. If we go there, he might know more about the Eidolons and Etro's Warrior Goddess."

"But what about Princess Serah?" Snow asked, Sazh shook his head.

"They found out how we were tracking her, they're now using magic to get about. The trail has gone cold." Sazh stated. "If we were to see this Fusoya character, with what information he knows, we could get an idea of the locations of the remaining Ediolons." he set his fork down. "The only thing we have right now against the Empire is that we have the Ice, Dragon and the White Knight. We're at an advantage."

"So we got three of the six, the Empire should be plotting to come after us instead of looking for the last two."

"That's a chance we have to take." Sazh sighed. "We're going to head back to Eden. Are you two okay with this?" he turned to the two Pulsians of their team. Fang nodded her head while Lightning looked a little peeved.

"If it's going to clear up this Warrior Goddess mess, so be it." she grumbled as Fang stood up.

"Well, it's too late to move out now. Rest up here and I'll go see if we can get some Chocobos for the trek back to Eden, it should save us time." she stretched out her back. "Thanks for the meal, uhhh... whoever cooked it." she left the kitchen, leaving the other five there. Hope turned to Sazh.

"While there is a chance that the Empire might come after us again, what's stopping them from finding the other Lindzei Knight? We've seen the Black Knight fight and it defeated Snow with ease, so if they got their hands on the second..."

"It's hard to say about the Black Knight." Sazh sighed as he looked over to Lightning who was helping Vanille with the dishes. "There has to be a reason why he's suddenly after Lightning and not Snow."

"Or why the White Knight Ark isn't reacting to Lightning." Snow whispered. Hope crossed his arms, looking at the Type-V Gunblade that was in the corner of the room.

"There could be a chance that she's just not the White Knight's l'Cie. I mean, there are two other knights out there."

"True, but then you have to think about what he told you and why Princess Serah and Lightning look so similar." Sazh stated softly. Hope frowned before repeating.

_"When eternal ages have passed and ancient scars are awakened at last, the sky will cry out for a blade long unseen to honour the daughter of the queen."_

* * *

><p>Five days later, with the aid of the tamed Chocobos of Oerba, the group had turned to the walls of Eden. The group was tired and in shambles but work needed to be done. Fang was looking around and taking in the sights of Eden, they were quite a bit different from those of Oerba. Lightning, who hadn't slept since they had left Oerba, was quiet and irritated. Hope had noticed a change in the two Pulsians the moment they made it into Eden Prime territory but didn't say anything, keeping his chatter low and just with Vanille, Sazh and Snow.<p>

Fang had dismounted her Chocobo and looked around Eden. She sighed as she placed her hands on her hips, giving a defeated look over her shoulder.

"This is Eden Prime?" she complained. "It's so quaint compared to Gran Pulse, how do you guys live with yourselves?" she chuckled loudly as Lightning walked over to her and pushed her on the shoulder.

"We need to look for Fusoya." she reminded Fang. The Oerbean woman smirked her usual smirk as she turned to Snow.

"So Snow, our Eden expert. Where can we find Fusoya?"

"Don't look at me, I never heard of him until you told us about him. Chances are, the only one who does know was killed during the Empire Raid back on the Princess' birthday." Snow answered, Vanille pulled on his coat sleeve.

"Wouldn't Cid Highwind know? He's one of the few wine sellers in Eden, he ought to know everyone he's served. This Fusoya must have bought wine from Highwind Winds at some point."

"Another Highwind." Fang crossed her arms. "Had I known it was such a popular name, I wouldn't have named my favorite attack that." she grinned. "Anyway, lets go see this Cid Highwind fella!" She started to walk away before stopping, looking back over to the group. "So, what way am I going?"

"I'll lead." Snow groaned as he took point.

* * *

><p>After a rather colourful conversation with Mister Highwind, the group was back out on the streets of Eden. Everyone had their eyes peeled for what Cid had reckoned was the house that 'that old fuckwit Fusoya' lived in. Fang kept looking back at Lightning. The pinkette was looking exhausted, having avoided sleep since they had left Oerba. Several times, she had wanted to ask her why, but Fang held back. Lightning had to have some kind of personal reason and she didn't think it was her place to impose on. Vanille had said the last couple times Lightning had fallen asleep, even for a couple minutes, she had terrible nightmares. After hearing this, she understood why the girl was avoiding sleep.<p>

"South district, blue roof." Snow repeated as they looked around the district. Fang tore her eyes away from Lightning and over to Vanille and Hope, the two of them were walking awfully close together. She wouldn't be surprised that after this mess with the Empire, they would start dating or something of the sort.

"There! To the left!" Vanille pointed out. Just in the corner they could see a single house with a blue roof hidden among the others that all had red roofs. Fang frowned, couldn't Eden have had a lot more variety when building their homes? Snow broke out into a run, the others following. The two Pulsians and Sazh lagged, Lightning lacking the energy to do anything right now. Fang looked back at the soldier before holding her hand out to Lightning. The tired soldier smiled before taking it.

Snow made it to the house first and running off pure excitement, he started to knock on the door loudly, hoping for Fusoya to answer. After waiting a while for a response, he knocked again. The rest of the group caught up with him as he kicked the door softly in defeat.

"No answer." he said as he sat down on the steps. "Should we wait?" he asked. Lightning was standing in front of him with her arms crossed.

"Are you guys looking for someone?" an elderly lady with a basket full of fresh fruit stopped by, looking at the downfallen group. "Maybe I can help you."

"We're looking for a man called Fusoya." Lightning started, her voice stern and clear of her obvious exhaustion. "Do you know where we might find him?"

"Fusoya? Oh dear... I'm afraid he passed away last year. He was a tough old man, fought to the bitter end." she told the group. Fang grumbled and kicked the ground, the elderly lady noticed Fang's sign of detest and frowned. "Well, there is his adopted son, Cid Raines. He's probably in the library, the young boy spends far to much time in there, the dust will probably get to him in his old age. But look at me, chatting away like I don't have a thousand and one things to do. I should go, I hope you find him." she was gone as quickly as she came, Lightning uncrossed her arms and sighed as she watched the woman go.

"Lightning, you should take a nap." Sazh told her softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. She brushed it off.

"I'm fine, the nightmares keep me up anyway." she turned to look at the group, Snow and Vanille in particular. "So, where is this library?"

"Hell if I know." Snow commented, throwing his hands up. "I'm not really the studious type."

"I'm from Bresha Village." Vanille answered.

"I know where it is." Hope spoke up. "I used to spend a lot of time there myself when I was a kid. You can follow me there."

"You know, there is a chance he might be in there, holed up in his bedroom with a ratty book." Fang pointed over her shoulder, Sazh shook his head.

"He probably isn't, no one's home."

"You sure about that old man?"

"Absolutely." He walked off, leaving Fang standing there, she narrowed her eyes slightly as she watched the dark skinned man move away. "Interesting..." she mumbled under her breath before following. Lightning, being the last one to move, watched Fang curiously. The library wasn't as far as most of them had believed it to be, Hope taking them there in just a few minutes. Instead of all of them going in and making a scene, Hope went in alone. Lightning sat down on the steps to the large building and closed her eyes.

"Lightning." Vanille started, worried. "When was the last time you slept properly, as in when you weren't knocked out cold?"

"Weeks I'm guessing." Lightning yawned slightly. "They were just dreams at first, but over time they turned into nightmares. I don't want to talk about them."

"Dreams about war, aren't they?" Fang asked her. "I get them too, because of the crystal I have." she explained to the solider. "You think it could be that? The crystal giving you these dreams."

"If you're going to take this as a roundabout way to say that I'm the Warrior Goddess, we're dropping the subject." she stood up quickly. "I'm going to wait outside Raines' home. Just in case he comes back early, someone will be there to stop him." she staggered off, Sazh frowned.

"We shouldn't have brought up the Warrior Goddess thing at all in the first place." he crossed his arms. "I mean, ever since it was implied she's been all defensive about it." he shook his head. "Soldier Girl is special, but maybe the White Knight isn't hers. There are other knights out there."

"He's not here." Hope proclaimed loudly as he came out of the building, he looked at the group. "Where's Lightning?"

"Either she's exhausted or irritated as us so she left to go camp out in front of Cid's place." Snow explained. "So where is he?"

"According to the librarian, he left while talking about some ruins in Bresha Plain. Remains of Cocoon apparently, she wasn't sure."

"So he must know about the Eidolons!" Snow shouted as he stood up. "Why waste time! Let's go!" he ran off towards the plains, leaving the group staring at him and utterly dumbfounded. Vanille turned to Fang and Sazh. "Shouldn't someone stay with Lightning? What if she falls alseep or something?

"Even if she's caught asleep in front of Cid's house." Fang started, chuckling. "She's decked out in full Guardian Corps uniform, I highly doubt someone will fuck with her, awake or not." she looked at Vanille and ruffled her hair slightly. "Let's hope she falls asleep, we all know she needs it, nightmares or not."

* * *

><p>They rode out to the only ruins Snow and Vanille knew of in Bresha Plain. The kids charged ahead while Sazh and Fang hung back for a bit, she was too busy watching the older man who was trying to keep to himself.<p>

"So, old man." she started up. "Are you ever going to tell us who you really are?" she asked quickly. Sazh glanced at her, confused. "Ever since Princess Serah had unlocked Bahamut's power within me, I've been able to 'feel' certain things about certain people and living beings. Changes in the Rift even. The powers I've been feeling from Snow and Lightning are expected, but you old man, I can't place my finger on it.

"I'm just an old man Fang. Someone has to keep everyone in line. Before you and Lightning joined us, those other three were all over the place." He smiled. "So Lightning is definitely a l'Cie, but to be one without an Ark or Eidolon... that doesn't answer any of our questions."

"I can't tell if I was the same way before I got Bahamut but I don't think it really matters. Lightning has to be the Warrior Goddess so why is she denying it as much as she is?"

"That is something you have to ask Lightning yourself." Sazh told her. "You're a fellow Pulsian, she feels more comfortable around you rather than Vanille or Hope. We'll be out on the field again real soon, she doesn't sleep so you know when to catch her."

"Of course."

The others were already dismounted and waiting for them by the time they arrived. Snow was grinning for once as Vanille and Hope both tried to keep the taller boy in line. The elder man and Pulsian were laughing as they dismounted their own steeds and made their way over to them.

"These ruins are small but they run deep, I used to play here when I was a child." Vanille told them as she lead them to the underground entrance. "Above, it just looks like a stone pillar but below it's beautiful." she lead them down through the cave entrance. "If would make sense that Mister Raines would come here."

Her talk was cut short at the familiar sound of a Behemoth's roar. They raced down to the bottom to see a young man with short black hair being chased by not one, but three King Behemoths. Vanille ran out front and started to try to catch Cid's attention but the man stumbled, crashing onto the ground with a groan. Snow and Fang ran out front but before they could even transform, the King Behemoth had it's sword raised above its head.

However it was never able to bring its blade down on the defenseless Cid Raines. For standing between it and the human was a being roughly twice as tall as it. The beast roared, struggling to get its blade free as the Black Knight held onto the blade firmly. Diabolos slowly stood up from his kneeling position, flaring his wings out as he pulled his sword out against the attacking beasts.

"Why... why is he here?" Snow shouted, shell shocked. "Why is Diabolos here?" he repeated as he ran forward, shouting the chant he needed to use to transform. The seven metre knight charged the black one the moment Diabolos had dropped the last Behemoth, their swords clashing.

"Why did Diabolos protect Cid?" Hope questioned as Fang move forward slightly.

"Forget that! Why is Snow attacking a knight? Isn't he on our side?"

"The Black Knight isn't on our side, that's General Garland of the Gestahlian Empire. The same man that killed the King of Eden and defeated Lightning in battle." Vanille answered Fang's question. "He's skilled, you need to help Snow!"

"Don't need to tell me twice." Fang shook her head as she ran forward, Bahamut's Ark activating as she spoke her chant. The Dragon Knight quickly flanked the Black Knight, who jumped back to the other end of the ruins. Snow and Fang stood side by side as the Black Knight slowly raised his blade against them.

"What are you waiting for?" Snow roared. The Black Knight said nothing.


	6. The Soulless Knights

They knew Garland was a skilled fighter, relying mostly on brute strength to smash through his enemies, it was the reason why Lightning was unable to defeat him. While speed got her to where she was as a fighter, Garland's pure power was enough to defeat her. Yet, as a Black Knight, his battle style had changed, dramatically.

Snow smashed his sword against Garland's, locking him in place as Fang charged in with her lance. The Black Knight saw her coming and quickly dodged the Dragon Knight's spear before kicking Snow's legs out from underneath him. He fell with a crash as the Black Knight turned to Fang, holding his sword out. Fang flared her own purple energy-like wings to make her seem bigger than she actually was but a chuckle escaped the Black Knight as he flared his own metallic wings in return. Snow slowly got back up, watching the two dragon-like knights stare each other down, one taunting the other to make the first move. Snow took a couple steps back as Fang changed her hold on her lance, preparing for a forward stab.

"I've always wanted to spar with you." The Black Knight told Fang softly, she could barely hear him herself. "I didn't think it would happen like this." a chuckle. "For once, it's something that I don't mind."

"What are you?" Fang asked softly as the two of them danced around each other. She charged forward but Diabolos jumped up and bounced off her lance before flipping over her head and landing behind her. The Black Knight swiped with his sword, catching Fang on her back and causing her to stumble. She spun around and with a roar, threw her lance like a javelin. The Black Knight caught it and threw it back at Fang, but she caught it, just as the Knight had. It was like a game of catch, except with a deadly lance instead of a ball. The huntress snarled as she charged the Black Knight, their weapons clashing. Sparks flew as their wings flared out at the same time.

"They're going to take it to the skies." Snow breathed out as he saw the two slowly taking off in the air, an unusual energy surrounding them. The knights were resonating, amplifying each other's energy. Snow turned to the group, scooped them up, and quickly ran out of the cave, protecting them just as the two knights burst through the ceiling and took their fight to the sky. The two knights cried out their own battle cries as Fang's energy wings flared to nearly twice their size at the same moment the Black Knight dived at her. She brought up her lance to deflect the blow while reaching out and grabbing the Black Knight by his helmet and pulling him close to her.

"What's your problem!" Fang roared, shaking the other Knight as he glared at her through his own helmet. She looked back, her eyes going wide when they glanced down at a particular gash on the helmet, roughly where the right eyebrow would be. Her shock was enough for the Black Knight to break free, grab her by the neck, and swing her down onto the ground before floating back upwards, looking down at all of them. Fang was coughing, trying to wave the dust away. She looked back up at the knight.

"Hey! Wait!" she cried out, but the knight was already gone, flying towards Eden. "Damnit." she looked back down at the ruins, defeated. Snow was still protecting the others in his transformed state as she knelt down, transforming back.

"That wasn't Garland." she whispered, looking up at the skies. "It couldn't have been."

Sazh stayed silent as Snow transformed back, Vanille and Hope reunited with the other two fighters. So the Black Knight attacked them again. He scanned the group while thinking, it would have been impossible for him to know exactly where they were. Lightning was missing, yes, but she was back in Eden, hopefully taking a much needed nap so they knew where she was. How was Garland following them then?

"Many thanks." Cid Raines said as he ran his hand through his hair.

"Well, just be thankful you lucked out." Fang said as she ran her hand across her shoulder, feeling all the scars she had. She needed to take a look at her transformed body the next time she transformed to see if her suspicions were correct.

"Yes, thankful that the Black Knight saved me and that you then saved me from the Black Knight." he nodded at Fang before looking skywards. "But those Ebonwings, that could only be Diabolos. That would make you Bahamut..." he looked over at Snow. "I don't recognize you but I know your element, you're Shiva right?"

"She transformed for her master, you got it right on the gil." Snow pumped his fist, Hope rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I've spent so much time studying them on my own only for my father, Fusoya, to tell me even more about them before he died." Cid sighed. "To be saved by not just one, but three knights. That only means that the day father has feared is coming closer."

"Yeah?" Fang asked. "Are ya gonna tell us more?"

"Yes, I will, but let's return to town."

* * *

><p>They made their way back to Eden with Cid leading them along. Vanille and Hope had opted to share a Chocobo to give Cid his own steed. Sazh and Fang had stayed quiet the entire trip. They eventually made it back to Cid's home. He stopped and looked at the person asleep on his doorstep.<p>

"Lightning!" Vanille cried out as she hopped off the back of her chocobo and ran over to the soldier. "Wake up!" she shook the Guardian Corps Lieutenant softly. Lightning slowly woke up, looked at Vanille, and smiled softly. The redhead threw her arms around the pinkette in a massive bear hug. "I was so worried!"

"What?" Lightning asked, confused, as she began looking over Vanille's shoulder at the group. "What happened?"

"The Black Knight attacked us." Sazh stated firmly. Lightning's face fell as her lips moved, but no words came out.

"Come inside." Cid moved around Lightning and Vanille and opened the door to his home. "When Fusoya died, he told me the secrets of the Eidolons and Etro's Knights." the group walked into his home. "Take a seat in the dining room, I'll make some tea." he disappeared into the kitchen. Fang crossed her arms and looked over to Vanille and Lightning. The soldier was leaning against Vanille, still clearly exhausted.

Cid returned with a tray full of cups along with a pot of tea and set it down on the table. No one touched the tray as he sat down at the head of his table. "The Eidolons." he sighed. "How do I start?"

"We know that in this day and age people say they're from Cocoon, we are aware that isn't the truth. So, from the beginning would probably be best." Sazh said with crossed arms. Cid nodded.

"Back when it was just Cocoon and Gran Pulse, where the fal'Cie was still a large part of our lives, there was this group slowly coming to power. They called themselves the Gesthalian Empire and they believed that the humans shouldn't be ruled by the fal'Cie." Cid started slowly. "While this was true for Cocoon, where the fal'Cie treated their humans like pets, it wasn't the case for the Pulsians as they lived with their fal'Cie in harmony."

"Then there are the l'Cie, people branded by the fal'Cie to carry out a Focus. They were more common on Gran Pulse because of the style of life and while I cannot tell you the type of Focuses they had, they still existed. Now Eidolons, they are Etro's Messengers. Etro had taken pity on the l'Cie who had found themselves bound to a Focus against their will so she gave them Eidolons. People will say that she had created them but when Etro was born, she was left powerless, so I believe the Eidolons came to her. However that is a story for another time."

"So what exactly do the Eidolons have to do with l'Cie?" Hope asked quietly, Cid held up his hand, asking Hope to wait.

"When a l'Cie found themselves hopeless with their Focus, the Eidolons came to them to be their salvation from their Focus. The Eidolons would attack the l'Cie whom they grace with their presence. That was life on Gran Pulse as Cocoon was a safe haven in the sky." he meshed his fingers together and brought them above his face.

"Then the Empire came to power. They wanted to rid the world of the fal'Cie, tear Cocoon out of the sky, open the Door of Souls, and bring the slumbering Maker back to this world. To do that, they decided to wage war against Cocoon and Gran Pulse, hoping that that alone would be enough to bring the Maker back."

"But it wasn't." Sazh interjected, Cid nodded.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Cid said. "That's how Cocoon and Gran Pulse saw it, they teamed up against the Empire and fought, destroying them in the end."

"But the Fall of Cocoon and the destruction of the Empire was right around the same time." Vanille added. Cid indicated with a raised index finger that he wasn't finished.

"The war was long and bloody, the Empire was much bigger and stronger than the two worlds had believed and Cocoon only had PSICOM while Gran Pulse had their Guardian Corps and Hunters. Life was strained and they didn't think it was right to force everyone to arms. As a result, the fal'Cie began to make more l'Cie, to be the trump card against the Empire who had no guiding fal'Cie. That's when the Goddess Etro decided to grace Gran Pulse with what she could, giving them her Warrior Goddess and her sister, whom the people began to call the 'Daughter of the Queen'."

"The Queen being Etro."

"No one knows where they came from, who their true parents are, but they had been infused with what little power Etro had. Both of them helped fight the Empire, the Warrior Goddess spearheading the attacks with her Eidolon steed while the sister commanded from the back lines. Eventually the Empire fell but not without framing Cocoon."

"They killed the Princess." Lightning stated calmly. Cid frowned.

"Like the assassination of Queen Branford all those years ago, the Empire killed the Warrior Goddess' sister just before their final hours, framing Cocoon in the process. This enraged the Warrior Goddess and the rest of Pulse, who followed her loyally, starting the War of Transgression."

"Before, when they were working together, things were different. While the differences between Cocoon and Gran Pulse weren't that great, the technology they have is something we still don't have today. They overpowered Gran Pulse's forces, making them rely more and more on the l'Cie. With more l'Cie, there was more hopelessness, and with that, the Eidolons were turning against Gran Pulse's forces. Gran Pulse was losing to the world in the sky and the Warrior Goddess was becoming desperate, annoyed that the Messengers were failing to aid her in battle. Still blinded by the death of her sister, she changed the image of the Eidolons. This is when it becomes scary."

"So she turned them into the Knights." Sazh said, Cid nodded.

"Halfway into the war, only two Eidolons were tamed, Bahamut and the Goddess' own Eidolon, Odin. It was ironic that the White Knight and the Black Dragon were the two that were tamed. The other untamed Eidolons were transformed into the Soulless Knights. Massive weapons that were unable to move unless they found the right 'fuel', something to power them."

"But the Eidolon spirits..." Snow started, Cid stayed tensed.

"They were sealed away within the Knight's Arks, a guardian spirit, which I'm sure you've seen first hand. Without that, the Knight is just a suit of armour, it cannot act on it's own. So to move, to act, the Knight needs the power of a l'Cie's soul."

"What?" Vanille questioned, Fang interrupted.

"So wait, we've been lending out our souls so that they can fight?"

"Yes, a l'Cie with the right qualities offers their soul to the Knight and are transformed into the mighty warriors." Cid answered, Fang still looked confused. "However, the Warrior Goddess still feared that the Eidolons and their l'Cie would turn on her for what she had done to them. Unable to seek redemption right away, she did the unthinkable. While Bahamut and his partner continued to remain loyal to her, they decided to brand and use the souls of newborn infants to power the untamed Knights.

"Babies?" Vanille exclaimed, Cid looked upwards.

"Yes. With the Eidolons bound to the armour, the Knights were able to learn from the Eidolon's battle experience and were able to fight on their own. The soul was enough, it didn't need to be of higher intelligence. The Warrior Goddess and her partner saw that if they used an infant's soul, still innocent, they could maintain complete control over their weapons."

"Children as weapons... unbelievable..." Hope said softly as Snow turned to Cid.

"What the hell? What kind of war was this?"

"A war that Gran Pulse needed to win! As time passed, Pulse and Etro had discovered that the Cocoonian God, Lindzei, was corrupted and that he was the one who helped in the creation of the Empire, that he was the one who told the Empire to frame Cocoon with the death of the Warrior Goddess' sister. His intentions were the same as the Empire's; he wanted to open the Door of Souls and bring his father back. With Gran Pulse wiped out, all he needed to do was drop Cocoon out of the sky and all life would come to an end, forcing the Maker to return and start life anew."

"Etro and Pulse couldn't allow it then."

"Exactly. Now with the Knights, the Pulsian fighters didn't know of their creation, hope was returned to the battlefield and the fight began anew. Lindzei was starting to lose. Cocoon was slowly learning about their god's true intention. A civil war broke out that eventually lead to the creation of the Lindzei Knights. You've met one of them, the Black Knight."

"Diabolos." Snow growled.

"Even with those Knights, Lindzei fell to Gran Pulse and the Warrior Goddess. Cocoon was shattered and it's ruins were scattered among Gran Pulse only to be buried with time. In the end, there was no ultimate victor, many lives were lost on both sides. Cocoon is gone, that's the result of the War of Transgression. The surviving Cocoonians separated and created Eden Prime and Spira, leaving the Pulsians on their own for their lives were never intended to mix."

"So that's why the Empire has returned and why the Knights are being found again. History is repeating itself, the Empire is trying to bring the Knights together to open the Door of Souls!" Snow shouted, standing up and knocking his chair over.

"Yes. The prophecies said that generations later, the Daughter of the Queen will re-emerge and the Empire will rise again so they can settle the war that the Warrior Goddess had thwarted after her death."

"So you think they're coming true now?"

"I do." Cid stood up slowly. "That's what father had feared the most, the Final Awakening, the coming of Ragnarok."

"So, is that why Fusoya put me in someone else's care?" Fang asked, Cid looked at her.

"I'm sorry but that question will have to wait, I've spoken enough for today and I've been watched for some time now."

"And you didn't tell us this sooner?" Lightning snapped. "Now we're all going to be in trouble!"

"What does it matter? You guys have the Knights, you've been in trouble since day one. We need to leave."

"And just where do you suggest?" Lightning snarled. Cid walked up to her, narrowing his eyes.

"Where it all started, in Oriense Village." he said firmly. "Meet me at Eden's East Gate tonight, we'll leave as soon as we can."

* * *

><p>Fang was pacing back and forth at the East Gate and going through everything Cid Raines had told them, about the Warrior Goddess, about Bahamut's l'Cie partner. To do what they did to the infants and the guilt they must have carried to the end of the war, the reason why Bahamut had waited so long, and why the White Knight, Odin, still waits. She pulled out the crystal she had had for as long as she could remember. She stared at it, her mind wondering. What if it wasn't a dragon's gift? What if it was the soul of Bahamut's original l'Cie partner? Maybe that's why he had mistaken her for his previous partner.<p>

But how would he have known her name?

"I don't trust that guy." she growled loudly, the members of her team looking at her. "The rift feels funny around him and then there's what he said about the Warrior Goddess and Bahamut. Bahamut is my partner now, what happened to his original partner?"

"He also knew your name." Hope pointed out. "I don't think Cid told us the full story. There is more behind the Warrior Goddess and Bahamut's original partner than he's letting on." He pointed to the crystal Fang was holding onto. "Of course, he just might not know."

"But he knows Bahamut is my–"

"When a l'Cie dies, the pact between them and the Eidolon is broken." Sazh cut in. "People are reborn Fang, you just might be a reincarnation of Bahamut's original partner, that is why he knew you."

"I never saw it like that." Fang muttered, Sazh smiled softly. Fang moved to turn around and start walking again but both she and Lightning froze suddenly. The others looked up in confusion as the two Puslians ran up the road a bit as an Edenite came running up to them.

"Uniforms, weapons..." he breathed out, looking over the group. "I need your help! There was an explosion in the South District! A man was killed!"

"You don't think?" Hope asked. Snow had already started running towards the South District before Hope could finish the sarcastic comment.

When they got there, Cid's home was in a mighty blaze. Snow took a couple steps forward but didn't do anything, couldn't do anything. He turned to Lightning.

"Was this the Empire's doing?" he shouted, Lightning shrugged her shoulders.

"Even if it was, nothing could have survived that blast, Cid must have known."

"Etro fuckin' dammit! Now I'll never know!" Fang shouted as she clenched her hands into fists and closed her eyes. "No, it doesn't matter, I'll always be Pulsian and I'll take that with pride."

"That's the spirit." Sazh said as he slapped Fang on the back, she smiled at him before looking at Hope and Vanille, both of whom were looking up to the roof of the burning building. Up on the corner that wasn't yet aflame, a small Black Chocobo was looking down upon them before flying away. Without thinking, they chased after it while pushing bystanders aside as the Chocobo lead them to an empty alleyway."

"You're cornered, where you gonna fly off to now?" Hope asked the bird darkly. The Chocobo chirped as a hologram appeared before them; it was that of a man, he had to be just a few years older than the Pulsians. His long black hair was held back by a thin headband across his forehead and he had a couple of feathers in his hair. He was wearing black clothing, trimmed in a rich purple that matched his headband, he almost looked like Royalty, but who was he? Spira or the Empire?

"Greetings." he spoke, his voice deep and commanding. "My name is Caius." he smirked. "So nice to speak with you. I am the leader of a little group that you like to call the Gestahlian Empire." Snow growled. "I imagine you must be very worried about your precious princess. I know I certainly would be. In light of that, I would like to propose a trade. We are willing to exchange Princess Serah for the two Arks in your possession." he offered. Hope sighed in relief after realizing they didn't know about the Ark he was carrying. "I'll be waiting by Titan's Throne in the Faultwarrens. You may come if you like, or not, it is up to you. This will be your only chance to ever see the princess alive. Thank you, and do have a good day." with that the hologram disappeared, for it was only a recording.

"Fucking bastard. Oh how I wish I could wring his neck." Snow snarled.


	7. The Faultwarrens

"Back before the War of Transgression the Faultwarrens used to be the home of Titan's Trials." Lightning told the group and the crack of dawn the next morning as they headed out towards the Archylte Steppe, their Chocobo's running as fast as they could. "It was where people would go to prove themselves to the fal'Cie, to prove to him that they are worthy of survival. They say that it's the final resting place for a lot of great warriors that Gran Pulse has seen over the generations." she kicked her Chocobo to move faster, Fang looked over at Snow who seemed absolutely torn.

"He looks like his dog just died." she said to Vanille, the red head looked put off as she moved away from Fang, leaving her in the back. "Was it something I said?" she asked loudly, but no one was listening.

* * *

><p>It was roughly late afternoon and Fang reckoned they were half way through the Faultwarrens. The monsters roaming around were becoming stronger as they trekked and more and more of the usually uncommon Cie'th were showing up, testing the group's skills. The younger ones were already exhausted and Sazh was tiring out. Fang knew that she and Lightning could push on for couple more tiers before would be done dinner. So they cleared out the area entirely and figured it would be best to take an extended break.<p>

After they had a fire going to make some food from their kills Sazh's little yellow Chocobo had returned, he sat down on a rock and Princess Serah's hologram appeared before them. She looked around the group and smiled a sad smile. She clasped her hands together behind her back, looking downfallen.

_"Is everyone okay?" _she asked, Snow pushed his way forward, happy to see the Princess again.

"A little tried, but we're all doing well Princess." he said with a nod of his head, Serah smiled.

_"Thank Etro. However, I need to apologize to all of you, for I am putting you all in grave danger once more."_

"I think we're used to it." Lightning grumbled, arms crossed, Serah giggled.

_"That aside, the reason why the meeting point is here in the Faultwarrens is because it was my idea. I had managed to convince Caius to make it here, and I'm positive he doesn't know why."_ she made eye contact with Lightning. _"With each passing day I'm remembering more and more, memories of a much older time, when the world was at war and Cocoon still floated in the sky. I've come to realize that I've been infused with the power of the Goddess Etro. It was as if visiting Anima's Vestige near Bodhum had open some kind of sealed door and now I'm rediscovering who I was."_

"So you are the Warrior Goddess' Sister." Sazh muttered, Serah nodded.

_"I am aware that, in my previous life, I had perished before my time. I had left my sister behind to do something terrible." _Serah frowned softly. _"But she did it to bring the end of the war and save the world we are bound to." _she paused. _"However, when she changed the Eidolons, she didn't realize what would happen if they were all brought together along with the Lindezi Knights."_

"This can't be good." Vanille said in a small voice, Hope bit the inside of his lip.

_"If the Etro Knights are brought together with Lindezi's they will bring about the end of the world, for their resonating energy will prematurely summon Ragnarok. As foretold in the prophecy."_

"We can stop it right?" Snow asked quickly. "Stop this Ragnarok from coming."

_"There is a way."_ Serah said. _"All you need to do is destroy the Black Knight, which alone should be enough."_

"There is a problem with that, your highness." Lightning spat. "We have no way to destroy the Black Knight. Snow and Fang have already fought the Black Knight two on one but he still got away."

"Well if Fang and Garland didn't take it to the air." Snow growled, Fang held her hands up.

"Well excuse me! We're both dragons! It's just instinct to take it to the air! I mean, we both have _wings!"_

"Shut up! Both of you!" Lightning roared, the both of them closed their mouths.

_"That is the reason why I chose Titan's Throne."_ Serah said. _"After the War of Transgression, when the other knights were put to rest. The Warrior Goddess came to the Throne to seek redemption for what sins she had committed during the war. No one knows what had happened to her afterwards but I'm positive she had left some old magic behind there, possibly her Eidolon, it's a chance we have to take."_

"We have her Ark." Hope spoke out as he held up the Type-V Gunblade he had been holding onto since the Grapa Whitewood. "Odin is sealed within."

_"Thank heavens, if I can just get to the Ark, I can probably unseal Odin within and he can help you destroy the Black Knight. I can only pray that the Warrior Goddess is found soon, otherwise something terrible will come to pass, and I don't want to see it happen."_with those final words her hologram disappeared, leaving the group behind. Sazh crossed his arms and turned to Lightning.

"Are you positive that you're not her?" he asked, Lightning narrowed her eyes.

"It's not memories that plague me at night, it's only nightmares."

"Very well." he sighed. "We'll just stay here for the night, rest up, tomorrow is going to be a big day, it's just a bonus we're one step ahead of the Empire, for once."

* * *

><p>Night had fallen easily upon the group; everyone was exhausted, for it had been non-stop since the death of King Farron so to call the day early was something everyone had taken for granted. The Edenites rested their feet while the Pulsians went out to gather water. After everyone had settled in for the night it left Fang and Lightning watching the fire. The huntress was still happily eating away at the day's leftovers while Lightning opted to watch the flames, anything to help her elude sleep and her reoccurring nightmares.<p>

"You should eat something." Fang said, holding up a piece of meat, they had killed so many creatures that Fang couldn't really tell what was what anymore, they were all lightly charred. "You didn't eat much at dinner, or lunch."

"I'm not hungry." Lightning muttered. "You should rest with the others, I have watch."

"You always have watch." Fang sighed. "The last time you slept was when you passed out in front of Cid's house. So Light; you got two choices. Tell me about your nightmares, or go to sleep." Lightning looked away, not even bothering to correct Fang about her name like she did with the others. "So your nightmares, are they memories of war? Or of something else?" she asked, Lightning looked the other way, Fang stood up quickly. "Look at me!" she shouted as she pushed Lightning to look at her, her hand just touching above her left breast.

The shock hit her like a tidal wave. Fang staggered backwards as if she had just been burned.

"Why? Why did you lie to them when I got Bahamut?" she asked quickly, Lightning stared at her.

"I started remembering afterwards" Lightning said and looked away, Fang snarled. "Even then it is not something I can admit proudly, you heard from Raines what she and Bahamut's partner had done."

"But you're the Goddess." Fang crossed her arms; Lightning turned away from her and walked over to the ground ended in a cliff. "Yes, I know what they did isn't something to be proud of, but I don't think anyone on Gran Pulse would be upset for her actions, she saved the world." Fang ran her hand through her hair. "Odin has been with Hope all of this time, so why haven't you reclaimed him the moment you remembered?"

"Because I can't face the guilt, the guilt of what I had done to him, to all the Eidolons and the infants." Lightning placed her hands into the pockets of her jackets. "I can't bring myself to face the Eidolon just because what the Warrior Goddess did to him"

"That's the thing Light. That's what the Warrior Goddess did, that's what she did with Bahamut's partner, because she was heartbroken over the loss of her sister. Princess Serah said it herself, they looked for redemption for their actions and they were forgiven. Light, we are not them, they are us, they are part of us." Fang moved to stand behind Lightning. "So don't beat yourself over something she did, stop remembering all the bad things, and start remembering the good things." she smiled when Lightning finally looked at her.

"Then, will you help me remember?" she asked, Fang held her hand out to her.

"Of course, only if you help me remember too."

Lightning took Fang's hand.

* * *

><p>The tavern was nearly empty, save for a group of five silently eating a meal. At the head of the table Captain Noel Kreiss who had slammed his tankard of beer onto the table, still smarting about what had happened weeks earlier.<p>

"That blasted snake." he spat. "Barthandelus acts as though Eden is his to rule. The arrogant fool." he brought his drink back up to see that it was empty. "Damn it."

"Captain, you should stop drinking." Squall spoke as he leaned forward at the table. "You'll be in a terrible state when we reach Spira's borders."

"Even when we do." A blonde, spikey haired solider leaned back in his seat. "What good would we do? You've heard the rumours lately, it's not Spira causing the problems, it the Empire." he crossed his arms. "Although, Spira or not, Captain, you should really stop drinking."

"Shut up Cloud." Noel spat before breaking out in laughter. "I'm no Captain anymore, I'm just a drunken fool." he placed the empty glass down. "All I am, all I was... I owe to King Farron and Queen Brandford. For if it wasn't for their kindness I would be starving or dead." he looked up at his team. "They had treated me as if I was their own son, their flesh and blood. Nobody loved me until the King took me in. So for everything they did for me, I'll gladly give my life for Eden." he was standing by the end of his speech, empty glass in hand, the youngest of the group was standing and saluting.

"Long live the King!"

The group broke out in a shrill laughter, Cloud slapping the younger on the back forcing him down in his seat.

"Ace, you're unreal." the only woman of the group sighed, Ace grinned.

"Quite aware of that, Sice." he sat back down as Noel placed his forehead against the table.

"Long live the King... yes..." he whispered to himself. "Father was a great king... an even better father... Father... guide me... tell me what I must do."

"Captain Noel." Squall muttered, having hearing the man's prayer.

* * *

><p>Vanille yawned loudly as she walked out of the designated sleeping area they had made earlier that night. Opening her eyes properly she was surprised to see Fang and Lightning standing off in the distance, talking to each other like lifelong friends. She bounced up to them, trying to catch snippets of their conversation, but once she realized they were talking about boring stuff like the Behemoth migrating patterns, she decided to interrupt.<p>

"Faaang, you're still up?" she whined. "I thought you'd be asleep by now!" she continued loudly, catching the two Pulsians attention. Lightning stepped back from Fang who was scratching the back of her head.

"I was, 'til I found out that Light here is a hunter in her spare time, so we started tradin' some tips." for the life of her, Vanille couldn't tell if it was a lie or not. For an Edenite, it would have been a really poor lie, but for these two Pulsians, and their idea of having 'fun' was much different than that of an Edenites', it seemed plausible.

"Well, I was going to try to take watch from Lightning, but seeing that the two of your are hitting it off, I'll just go back to sleep then." Vanille said, slightly put off as she stumbled her way back. After a while she heard the two of them laughing. She smiled softly, to hear Lightning's laugh, it clearly meant Fang was doing something right for the stressed soldier.

* * *

><p>They pushed their way through to the next plateau in the Faultwarrens. It was still early in the morning and thankfully the usual beasts haven't began their prowl for the day. Vanille skipped ahead and stopped. Hope looked over to see what the redhead was doing. She was pulling vines off of something. He ran over to help her to realize they had found a legendary Cie'th Stone.<p>

"Sazh!" he cried out, beckoning him over. "Do you know what this is?" he asked as the dark skinned man made his way over.

"Well I'll be..." he crossed his arms. "They haven't all died off yet."

"What are they?" Vanille asked as Snow, Fang and Lightning came to stand beside them all.

"A Cie'th Stone." Sazh explained. "They were some of the original l'Cie who had failed their Focus and became Cie'th, monsters cursed to wander the wilds in a form of living death. We've already fought some of them and a handful of the Undying." he sighed, placing his hands in his pockets. "After several years, if a Cie'th isn't put out of its misery, they extinguish the last of their strength and cease to roam. When it happens the Cie'th's remains fossilize turning into what you see before you."

"Yes." Fang answered, arms crossed. "And the call out to l'Cie over and over: Complete my focus." she sighed. "Ever since I was a child, I could hear their cries."

"So, you've always been a l'Cie then?" Snow nudged Fang softly, she pushed him back playfully.

"Maybe, I just thought it was crystal, you know?" Fang turned to Lightning. "Do you hear anything?" she asked as Lightning pushed forward, her hand reaching out to brush the stone.

"I've always heard them." she muttered. "In my dreams." she touched the crystal as it started to glow, an old Pulsian Script appearing before them. They all watched it in awe as it formed, once it was there Vanille turned to Fang.

"Can you read it?"

"I can make out the letters, but not the words, this is an old language." Fang said as she touched a couple of the floating letters, her eyes narrowed. "However, the longer I look, the more and more it's starting to make sense."

"_The Undying-fearsome Cie'th who defy fal'Cie will, driven by an intense loathing of all that lives. Geiseric, the Profane, is of their number, and my Focus is his doom. He is said to lead a horde of Cie'th on the Faultwarren's __Via Stellarum_."Lightning spoke softly, her eyes darting back and forth as she translated. "_To think you would become such a Cie'th, Geiseric! You, who would not harm a fly. Whatever part of you lingers in that grotesque prison of crystal and flesh must suffer. I will set you free my friend._"

"Lightnin'?" Fang asked, surprised, the soldier looked away. "You were able to read that?"

"Always have been." she whispered as she touched the stone again, it shimmered slightly, leaving a wave of crystal dust as Lightning walked away. "Now we have an Undying to kill."

"She's gotta be the Goddess." Snow crossed his arms as he watched her disappear. "Everything about her just screams it."

"There will come a time where she can't deny it anymore." Hope muttered as he held onto the White Knight's Ark.

* * *

><p>"This is beautiful!" Vanille cried out as she ran ahead, knocking Lightning in the shoulder as she took in the glorious view of the Archyelte Steppe. "Oh I wish I brought a camera!" she turned around and started to save the group over. "You gotta look down! The canyon is beautiful!" she cried out as Snow and Hope made their way over, Vanille was waving jumping up and down on the spot as the two boys made their way.<p>

"I do-" Lightning was cut off when Fang placed a finger over her lips, a smirk telling her to leave them be, however the smirk dropped as Lightning tore her eyes away from Fang looking over to where she was looking at. Behind Vanille a massive Cie'th was starting to rise up, Geiseric. Vanille saw Hope and Snow freeze as she slowly turned around to face the massive Cie'th, it roared, she screamed.

"Vanille!" Fang shouted as she ran forward her Dragon's Ark floating around her as she pulled her lance off her back. _"Emerge from the midnight void. Come forth, master of the rift. By the grace of Etro, grant me your power. Bahamut!" _Vanille barely had enough time to shield herself from the wind as Fang soared overhead, crashing headfirst into the massive Cie'th as they tumbled off the cliff and down into the canyon.

"Fang!" Vanille shouted as she turned around watching the Dragon Knight tear at the Cie'th that was nearly twice her size. "Snow! Help her!" she cried out as she ran back to Hope, the large blond ran forward just in time to see Fang fly up from below holding the massive Cie'th over her head before throwing it onto the plain before the group. She landed hard beside it and summon back her spear before stabbing at it, it never noticed the damage.

"Snow! Now!" Lightning barked as she ran forward, jumping up Fang's body, using the uneven ridges of her armour as ledges to get her up onto the Dragon Knight's shoulder.

_"Twin rulers arise from your icy thrones."_ Snow chanted slowly as he felt the cool air start to surround him. _"Come forth, sisters of winter wastes."_ he held his ark out in front of him. _"By the grace of Etro, grant me your power. Shiva!"_He transformed, pulling out his sword he ran forward for a stab, piercing the Cie'th through the arm. It howled and smacked Snow in the face with his other hand. Fang jumped up again and landed behind the Cie'th as Lightning launched forward, latching onto the roughs on the crystal body, trying to find some kind of advantage her human form could find.

"Hey! Nitwits!" Fang shouted at the other humans as she stabbed and slashed her lance in a form of a crude dance. "Yeh got magic! Use it!"

The spells finally started to fly.

Lightning had managed to climb around the lumbering Geiseric and drive her Blazefire Saber into the red eye mark on its chest causing to to howl out and swing it's massive arms about, Ruin Magic exploding from it's body and knocking Lightning right off him and Snow off his feet. Fang who was still floating wasn't affected. She quickly charged the Cie'th again, slamming her lance into it's body and trying to lift it above her to bring it back down. Her wings flared out as she heaved it over her shoulder and slammed it onto it's back. Snow quickly stood up, jumped and came down on it in a mighty Sovereign Fist. Hope casted a Last Resort as a follow tossing it back up into the air allowing Fang to swing her lance around like a bat and knock it out. It landed on the canyon edge as Snow charged at it, throwing a punch forward and following up with two more hits. The Cie;th tumbled down with a cry, Fang flew over to watch it fall, hopefully to its death. However Geiseric wouldn't fall with a final say, reaching up with a final burst of magic it wrapped around the airborne Dragon Knight and brought her down with it.

"Fang!" Snow shouted watching as she was dragged down. "We gotta do something!"

"Stand back!" Lightning shouted as she pulled the Type-V Gunblade from Hope's belt and quickly jumped off the edge of the cliff.

"She has the ark!" Snow shouted as he transformed back to stand closer to the edge. "Is she going to transform?"

"So she-" Vanille was cut off by a string of gunshots and Geiseric's final wail.

"Fang! You're fucking useless!" Lightning's shout echoed throughout the canyon. Hope hesitantly walked over the edge and looked down. Where he saw Lightning and the transformed Fang hanging to the rockface. Fang's wings were still bound by magic while Lightning had dug her Blazefire Saber into the rock wall so she had something to hang from. The Type-V was flipped into gunform, so that's what Lightning has used to shoot Fang free.

"I am kinda useless without a lance, love." Fang looked up at Lightning, even though she couldn't see Fang's face, she knew she was smiling behind that massive closed helmet.

* * *

><p>An hour later with the group recovered, Fang still chuckling about the mistake with Geiseric and Lightning still not amused. She pushed them on ahead, knowing how to to navigate the Warrens, they made it to a crossroads and decided to stop for a break. That's when Vanille saw a settlement not to far away.<p>

"Hey, Fang." she asked, having grown attached to the tanned Pulsian over the last couple days. "What's that settlement over there?" she asked, Fang's face fell.

"That's not good. We should go around them." she said, clearly recognizing the place. "Light-" she paused seeing that the seat the pink haired soldier had taken earlier was empty. "Etro damnit."

"Why do we need to go around?" Snow asked looking at Fang who, for once, seemed nervous.

"If it's got Fang that rattled, we should just take the advice." Hope reasoned as Sazh stood up.

"Alright, Lightning must have gone-" he was interrupted when someone's laugh echo through the canyon.

"Too late losers!" they all looked up to see a heavily tattooed man with a mohawk standing up on the top of the cliff. He crossed his arms slowly. "Maybe you haven't heard? You fuckwits are trespassing on our land." with that a whole army of men, most of which were the same age as their leader, appeared to surround the group. "And do you know what we do with fuckwit trespassers?"

"Give us a break!" Snow shouted as he stepped forward. "We didn't know! Let is slide!"

"For fuckwits!" the man continued without even listening to Snow. "The sentence is death!" the crowd cheered and roared around him. Fang pulled out her lance just as massive nets where fired upon the group. She managed to break free of the first one as the others were caught, but she wasn't ready for four large men to jump her from behind.

* * *

><p>Fang was the last one to wake, not prepared to take a massive hit to the back of her head. She wasn't given much time to regain her bares as she could hear Vanille struggling behind her. All five of them were bound to tall wooden posts in what looked like the center of the village.<p>

"Lightning must have known!" Snow shouted. "That's why she ditched us!"

"I see that you're all awake now!" the man from before was standing before them. Fang snarled as she could hear Vanille rattle against the chains she was bound with. "I must apologize, but your punishment will be carried out immediately!" he turned around to face his men. "Is everybody ready?" a roar of cheers.

"You guys are taking this too far! Too far!" Vanille cried out.

"Sazh! Can't you do something? Talk so sense into them?" Snow called out to the older man who just stayed bound. "Hope? What about your magic?"

"No good." Hope muttered in defeat.

"Play fair, you lousy Gearhead Al Bhed." Fang grumbled, catching the attention of the leader as he stormed up to Fang and punched in her the face, she looked back at him, chuckling.

"What did you say?" he spat, Fang's eyes were sparkling before she looked away.

"I said, yeh wouldn't know justice it it bit ya in the ass, my friend."

"I heard what you said the first time, pretty face." he said as he looked Fang over his eyes landing on her own tattoo. "I see you think yourself the warrior, but what good is a bound warrior to a Gearhead like me!" he shouted, waving his hand upwards in a ridiculous jester as two of his men rolled a large sphere to rest near the group.

"What in Pulse's name is that?" Fang asked as the man chuckled.

"That, my warrior friend, is the Device of Punishment! You'll soon feel it's wrath!"

"That... isn't what I think it is? Isn't it?" Hope asked slowly as Snow stared at the device.

"I'm pretty sure that's a... bomb."

"First, a little demonstration." the blond man said as he pointed to a cliff. "We have placed a Device of Punishment on the cliff, identical to the one before you! Is everybody ready?" he turned around to face the bomb on the cliff. "Five! Four!"

The bomb exploded, the mohawk man screamed.

"No! No! It's too soon! I was only at four!" he ran over to the man who had the trigger. "Ohh you incompetent, nitwit, imbecilic fuckwit!"

"Sorry boss, the bomb just went boom." the man said, scratching the back of his head, the leader quickly recovered.

"No matter, time for the real show!" he cried out as the entire group started to struggle.

"Lightning! Now would be a good time!" Fang roared as she tested her chains again as the man raised his hand above his head.

"Five! Four!"

"This isn't how it's supposed to end!" Snow growled as he pulled against his bindings.

"Three! Two!"

"No! Wait!"

The man was stopped when a blond girl, no older than Vanille ran up to the leader with the familiar Lightning tailing behind her. Her clothing was slightly different than the leader's and his followers, since they were all young men, most of them where shirtless and tattooed, half of which weren't appealing. She was wearing flared green shorts with a loose orange belt. She had on an orange sleeveless tank-top with a pair of goggles around her neck with beige boots to finish her ensemble. She ran up to him and punched him in the chest, causing him to stagger backwards.

"Rikku? What's going on?" he asked the blonde girl who was still upset at him.

"You stupid pig-faced brother! These are Lightning's friends!" she cried out, Fang and the others instantly relaxed as the man stepped back, then took a look at Lightning who was watching him with crossed arms.

"Lieutenant Lightning?" he asked his eyes going wide. "I'm so sorry Lieutenant! I didn't know!"

"And you were about to blow them all up! What would Dad say if he found out?" Rikku snapped at him, pointing a finger at the man. He quickly backed off, allowing Lightning to cut her friend's bindings.

"I'm sorry Lightning's friends." he was smiling now as he wrapped his arm around his younger sister. "To think I almost blew you all up!"

"No really?" Hope shot back a sarcastic remark that was left forgotten.

"The men you spoke of, they must be the fuckwits in black that came through the Faultwarrens earlier." he turned to Lightning with a grin that could rival Snows. "On behalf of the Al Bhed I apologize and am willing to help. We'll bring _machina_and bombs. We'll blow them all to bits."

"No that's fine... real fine." Snow held his hands up. "We're trying to get to Titan's Throne quietly."

"Very well. I'm Rikku's brother and I'll be sure to tell everyone here that you can use Home's resources with no hassle. You're Lieutenant Lightning's friends after all." with that and a hearty chuckle he was walking away, dragging Rikku with him. Fang crossed her arms and looked over a Lightning.

"Thanks for telling."

"It made my day, seeing your face." Lightning smirked.

* * *

><p>Snow stretched out as he and Hope explored the town. Everyone had gone off in their own direction in groups of two. Lightning was with Sazh and Vanille was with Fang. It was a nice relaxing change from running around, but Snow knew that it would only be a matter of time before they were running around all over again.<p>

"Snow." Hope started up. "Have you ever wondered if things would be different, if the raid never happened? If King Farron never died?"

"Yeah I have." Snow sighed. "We would have never become friends with Sazh, Lightning and Fang, we never would have seen Gran Pulse for what it was. Cuz we would have continued our lives as sheltered Edenites."

"Eden Prime was so peaceful." Hope sighed as he stopped, watching children draw in the dirt. He stopped Snow as they made their way over; he knelt down as he watched the children.

"What are you drawing?" he asked, finally gaining the attention of the Al Bhed children.

"You don't know?" the child looked absolutely appalled at Hope's question. "It's the Warrior Goddess!" he said pointing to the massive drawing he and his friends were working on in the dirt. The longer Hope stared at it he was starting to make things out. It was an image of a woman wearing armour with a sword and a shield.

"So that's her." Snow said as he looked over them and at the image.

"She's the strongest warrior of all, and the Warrior Goddess was the Al Bhed's friend too!" he said, so happy about it. Hope gingerly stepped forward to make sure he wasn't going to ruin the drawing. "So what's this?" he asked pointing at the picture of a rose-like crystal floating above the woman's hand.

"Story has it that the Warrior Goddess had a crystal. A crystal so powerful it could summon a knight from another world! See how strong!" he smiled waving his arms about. Hope smiled, knowing exactly who this picture was supposed to be a depiction of. "That's why we love Lieutenant Lightning, cuz she's so similar to the Warrior Goddess!"

"Don't we all." Snow ruffled the kids hair before turning around, seeing a familiar new face running up to Hope and himself, waving while trying to catch their attention. Rikku stopped before him, pausing to place her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

"I hear you're going to Titan's Throne!" she exclaimed, more than happy to know that. "I wanna come with!"

Snow and Hope looked at each other quickly then back a Rikku, while this young girl claimed to be Lightning's friend, hell all the Al Bhed did, and they didn't know if she should learn about the Eidolon Knights.

"You'd have to ask Lightning, Fang or Sazh, they're kinda of our leaders." Snow scratched the back of his head as Rikku saluted and ran off. It left Snow wondering how Lightning was even friends with her.

* * *

><p>Snow couldn't believe Lightning had said yes to Rikku. He stared at the blonde Al Bhed as she got along with Vanille, the two of them hitting it off like lifelong friends. Lightning still had that smirk on her face from the bomb incident with Rikku's brother. Fang was annoyed and was displaying it easily on her face, it was as if the two of them had switched roles.<p>

"Hey, Rikku." Hope asked quickly, trying to break the tension in the air. "Do you know how big Titan's Throne is? Like, is it as big as the fal'Cie? Or is it just a slab of rock cut to look like a throne?"

"I... I don't know Hope." she responded. "A lot of my people have seen it, the Warrior Goddess was important to my people in her final days, I just haven't been. I think I should pay homage, if it wasn't for her, the Al Bhed would have been destroyed by the Spirans. Her saving us was a blessing."

"Must have been when she was seeking redemption." Sazh whispered as he watched Lightning's back. "Things aren't adding up about you, Soldier Girl."

"Do you guys know about the story of Titan's Throne?" Fang suddenly asked loudly. "Not the one about the Warrior Goddess, that one is too well known. But how it was called Titan's Throne before the Warrior Goddess' story took over I mean." she looked around the group to see that they didn't know. Lightning's face was unreadable but that was expected.

"Back before the War of Transgression both the Warrior Goddess had tamed Titan and stopped his trials. Well, there was something called Titan Trials, not real original if ya ask me." she chuckled. Titan had a top fighter named... damn I forgot his name... anyway he was an Original L'Cie, bound to a Focus, a Focus he denied and was turned Cie'th for, in turn he became an Undying, Attacus the Soulless."

"I've heard of Attacus." Sazh said. "He was Titan's Champion, impossible to defeat, until the Warrior Goddess got to him.

"Yes yes." Fang waved him off. "But before that, when he was still undefeated he fought against the Knights when they were still young, to defend the Faultwarrens from any type of control, just to keep them free. Back then the Soulless Knights were much more powerful than they are now, I mean back then they were just fighting automatons, now they have us controlling them. He defeated the Knights several times before the Dragon Warrior told them to fall back, to leave the Faultwarrens free. With Attacus' protection they didn't need to worry about Coccon laying siege on the Faultwarrens. The war eventually ended and Attacus went on a rampage forcing Titan to start his trials again."

"Untill the Goddess came." Snow crossed his arms, sparing Lightning a glance as the soldier looked away.

"Yeah, until she came, seeking redemption for her past sins on her Eidolons. She cleared through the trials and came upon Attacus, they dueled. She won." Fang placed her hands on her hips slowly. "I don't know what happened after that, if she was forgiven or if she moved on in life, but that was the last known thing that the Warrior Goddess did before disappearing. Titan stopped his trials once more and opened up his home so the Al Bhed could settle there under his protection."

"So you think." Rikku started. "That she saved our people because she still felt guilty about Cocoon? Save one group to make up for another she destroyed?"

"She never destroyed Cocoon." Lightning growled. "The Civil War Cocoon broke out into destroyed itself, she just helped bring it out of the sky. Even though generations have passed, that Cocoonian Civil War still continues, between Spira and Eden Prime. That's why the stories of the War of Transgression are so mixed, because Eden Prime and Spira don't want to admit that they are the cause of Cocoon's downfall."

"How do you know this?" Vanille asked Lightning, the soldier shrugged.

"The nightmares."

"Anyway, after all of that, the people made a stone throne in honour of Titan's Champions. Do this day we still don't know if it was made for Attacus or for the Warrior Goddess."

"Wow, great story." Hope said loudly, Fang struggled her shoulders.

"I'm a hunter, not a story teller." she thought for a moment. "Anyway, we know Attacus protected this land until he lost to the Warrior Goddess in a duel, so, what's the one thing you'd want to protect?"

"Serah." Snow said without missing a beat.

"If I was a parent, I'd want to protect my kids!" Vanille shouted, looking at Hope who had easily agreed with her.

"My son." Sazh muttered while Rikku launched her hand into the air.

"Home!"

Lightning, however, had a smirk on her face as she moved in such a way to hit Fang on the shoulder. "Why don't you tell us first?" she asked, Fang stayed silent.


	8. The White Knight

**A/N: This chapter was edited by myself and not my beta/editor since he has family matter to tend to.**

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><p>They had gotten lost several times with Rikku's wayward directions but eventually they made their way towards the final part of the Faultwarrens, the closest to Titan they had ever been, it was getting later and later into the afternoon and Lightning, of all people, was starting to become restless. Snow was determined, knowing they were closer and closer to getting the princess back. Eventually they could see where it opened up towards a large stone structure in a clearing. Snow broke out into a run with the children following him.<p>

"Caius!" Snow roared when he saw Caius standing there with Rosch and Serah being held back by two armed guards. The rest of them caught up all taking stances against Caius' little troupe.

"Welcome my persevering friends. I am most honoured." Caius said to them with open arms, earning snarls from half the group.

"I don't like that man." Rikku whispered to Vanille, the redhead nodded along with Hope as Caius stepped forward.

"Now, to business, shall we?" he asked, his voice deep and commanding. "Give me the Eidolon Arks in your possession."

"As soon as you release the Princess." Snow spat back, his armband flaring as his Wild Bear Amp flared to life on the back of his jacket. Caius laughed.

"No, I asked you first." he held his hand out as if he wanted them to place them in his hand. They didn't move as he sighed, reaching for the massive crude sword he had on his back. He pulled it forward and held it to Serah's neck. "Again, I asked you first."

"You should do what he said." Lightning told them. Fang sighed as she pulled her ark out of her pouch while Snow slipped his off. They stepped forward and placed them down on the ground before walking backwards, making sure not to turn their backs on Caius.

"There! Now give us the Princess!" Snow shouted, Caius turned to his men.

"Release her, at once." he spat, the men threw the Princess towards Snow who had captured her in a massive bear hug. "Snow." she had whispered. Hope crossed his arms as he looked back and forth between the two parties then the Ark down on his belt.

"What's wrong with this picture?" he asked, Rikku looked at him.

"They aren't doing anything." she muttered, Sazh's eyes suddenly went wide.

"Snow! Get away from her!" he shouted just as Serah pulled a dagger out from the folds of her dress and swiping wildly at Snow who jumped back. Fang made a move to pulled her own lance from her back but she felt the cold steel of a saber being placed at her neck.

"Rosch."

"Remember? Only the l'Cie is able to touch the Ark of Etro's Knights. If anyone wants to take the Ark you have to break the bond, and the only way to do that is to kill the l'Cie."

"Rosch, you bastard." Fang snarled as the rouge Lieutenant Colonel of the Guardian Corp. He chuckled against her ear.

Caius held up his blade as a purple flame consumed it, making it look larger than it actually was.

"Now let us finish this, shall we?" he asked as he charged forward, Lightning moved to respond as the others pulled out their respective weapons. Just as Lightning and Caius were about to clash blades the earth beneath their feet began to rumble, an earthquake.

"My Lord! Look!" Rosch shouted just as Fang managed to get away from him. There Titan's Throne was starting to resonate with magic, slowly a pinkish hue was rising from the stone.

"The throne? I thought it was just stone!" he turned away from Lightning for a split second before back at the Guardian Corp Soldier. "Serah! She must be using magic from the airship!" he shouted, the moment those words escaped his lips the Serah beside him transformed into Garland, leaving Snow shouting out Garland's name.

"Snow! Now!" Fang shouted as the two of them dove for their Arks just as the magic at the throne flared one last bust of magic, leaving the armour of a White Knight sitting there as if he was asleep.

"Odin." Sazh whispered as Caius grinned, moving away from Lightning after he had knocked her down.

"What's going on?" Snow cried out as he and Fang looked at the regal White Knight who was just sitting there. He looked just like the Dragon Knight and the Ice Knight, a soulless suit of armour.

"Odin" Lightning breathed as she stood up slowly, she looked back at Hope who was holding onto the the Type-V Gunblade. Odin's Ark.

"Damn!" Rosch growled as he ran ahead to stand between Caius and the the two other ark wielders. He raised his hand up slowly as dark magic and smoke began to swirl around him.

_"Let smoke and fire be your summon. Come forth, adversary of darkness."_ he grabbed the dark sword that had formed in front of him and grabbed the hilt and sheath. _"By the grace of Lindzel, grant me your power. Diabolos!"_he roared as he pulled the sword, soon rising up as the Black Knight.

"Just as I thought." Fang growled. "Rosch is the Black Knight."

"How!" Snow shouted back at her. "I thought Garland was the Black Knight!"

"Don't be a fool!" Rosch shouted as he stepped forward. "Garland is just a mere image, a suit of armour that can be worn by anyone. He has allowed me to done his armour several times so I can use the Black Knight freely." he explained to them as he pulled out his sword. "I have fooled you several times now, but I new you were smart, Yun Fang."

"Then... who is Garland really?" Vanille asked in a small voice, Garland chuckled, is voice deep and echoing throughout his helmet.

"I am fal'Cie." Garland spoke as he stepped forward, magic flaring about him as the others stepped back. "Voice of the Gesthalian Empire and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie." he spoke loudly as Snow looked to Sazh.

"How, I thought all the Cocoon fal'Cie died in the war." he asked Sazh looked on.

"Garland must have been one of the fal'Cie that helped in the creation of the Empire, if he survived that means others have as well." Sazh commented, Garland chuckled.

"No, the rest of my kin are dead, but that doesn't mean I am left powerless. With Cocoon gone I am free to do what I wish, I can open the Door of Souls without the aid of pitiful l'Cie." he flared his magic and with a blinding flash he was soon standing as tall as a Knight, is armour gone leaving him basically naked, his skin black as night with large spikes coming from his shoulders and the back of his skull. A wicked sword, similar to Caius' appearing his his hand. "I, Garland, will knock you all down!"

"The Cloudsea Djinn." Fang whispered. "An old legend that surrounded Garland that even I never thought was true." she turned to Snow "I guess now is better than never." Fang smirked as she threw her Ark upwards and pulled her lance out watching as it wrapped around her arm and hand. _"Emerge from the midnight void. Come forth, master of the rift."_

Snow has strapped his ark back on and was chanting along similar lines. _"Twin rulers arise from your icy thrones. Come forth, sisters of winter wastes."_

_"By the grace of Etro."_

_"Grant me your power!"_

They roared the respective names of their Eidolons and was soon transformed to match the Black Knight and the changed Garland. The two parties faced each other and Caius and Lightning stepped forward, leaders of the respective teams. Sazh ushered the others back, knowing how devastating this fight was going to be and he didn't want people caught int he crossfire. Lightning whipped out her gunblade and slowly walked towards Caius, her red cape fluttering in the wind as Caius smirked.

"Let us do battle!" he roared as Lightning charged him.

"Save it!" their blades clashes just as the Dragon Knight jumped the Black Knight and Garland had the Ice Knight on the defensive. The two dragon-like knights soon took it up to the air, blade against lance. Snow and Garland where fighting but Garland being the fal'Cie and a much skilled fighter had the upper hand against Snow. Lightning was dancing around Caius the two of them clashing swords.

"Rosch! You bastard!" Fang snarled as she kicked the Black Knight away. She glanced down at the Eidolon sitting at the throne, without thinking she dived at it along with the Black Knight. Their hands made contact with the barrier protecting the Eidolon, forcing them both back. Fang flipped in the air and landed, swearing as Rosch skidded across the stone.

"Why can't I take it?" he shouted in frustration. "It's just a suit of armour!"

"There has to be a way!" Snow roared as he was pushed back by Garland once more, the two of them had ditched their blades and had opted for hand to hand combat.

_"Snow, can you hear me?"_suddenly echoed through everyone's heads. Everyone paused but Lightning and Caius, the two of them still fighting. Lightning cried out her battle cry as she came down on the man, but he swung his sword upwards with a mighty roar.

"Serah? Is that you?" Snow asked loudly, looking around for the Princess but couldn't see anyone. "How?" he turned back to the battle between Lightning and Caius. The dark haired man had caught Lightning just right and her Blazefire Saber had shattered, she cried out as she was thrown off her feet and back towards Hope, Vanille, Sazh and Rikku. The Al Bheld blonde was quick to help the slightly injured Lightning back up onto her feet.

_"My body is slowly regaining more and more of Etro's powers that I was infused with long ago. This is one of them. Listen. Snow. This armour is not the White Knight, it's part the Warrior Goddess's soul and armour. It's the true Ark of the White Knight.."_ Serah explained softly. _"It just looks like Odin, the last line of defence to fool those not worthy of the armour. Only the one who is true to the Warrior Goddess' spirit can lay hands on it. Do you understand?"_

"The only one?" Snow asked as he turned around, his eyes landing on Lightning who was still on the ground, being supported by Rikku. Lightning had her rose crystal out and was watching it glow softly.

"The Warrior Goddess? Here?" Caius roared out in frustration as he turned to Lightning who was back up on her feet, clutching onto her turtleneck, just above her left breast. "No! You can't be! You can't be the Warrior Goddess!" he cried out, Lightning smirked.

"I didn't want to admit it, so I kept running from who I was." Lightning explained. "But Fang, the Dragon Warrior, made me realize that her sins are not my sins, that I am not her, that she is me."

"Lightnin'" Fang said softly as the soldier pushed away from Rikku's support. She held her sword hand out and with a shimmer of golden magic the Type-V gunblade had appeared in her hand. She staggered forward slightly, slightly injured from Caius' attack. She pulled off her left hand glove with her teeth before placing the palm of her hand on the gunblade, slowly she moved her hand against the sharp edge, cutting into her skin and drawing blood.

"I am the Warrior Goddess." Lightning proclaimed, her voice smooth as walked over to the throne, Caius took shell shocked to stop her. She stood before the armour as she held her bleeding hand out, the Knight looked up slowly before touching Lightning's hand. That's when everything began to change. Her uniform of a Guardian Corp Soldier changed, shifting, morphing, into a beautiful suit of silver armour, a half skirt of white feathers fluttering down her right leg. The armour slowly disappeared and Lightning seemed to be reborn anew.

"All this time... Light was... the Warrior Goddess?" Rikku breathed out, stunned, the woman everyone loved back Home, was the same woman who gave them Home?

"No!" Caius roared as he charged at Lightning, the warrior quickly threw out her hand and he was forced to shield himself from an unseen magic. The bloodied crystal in her left hand began to glow brightly as a pink summoning symbol with the image of a flower in full bloom appeared beneath her feet. Lightning smirked as she threw the crystal upwards.

_"A name in blood, a pact of truth."_ she chanted slowly as she jumped up and shattered the crystal, below her something was starting to emerge from the seal, coated in white light. _"By the grace of Etro. Come forth! Sunderer of falsehood!"_The light shattered, revealing the White Knight in his true form. Lightning fell back down as Odin reached out catching her hand and flipping her back up as she landed back down in front of him, the two of them holding their blades took a step back in surprise but Lightning and Odin didn't wait, the two of them charged Caius and Garland respectively. Fang broke out of her daze and quickly tackled the Black Knight onto the ground as well.

"After all of this time." Sazh muttered as he watched the reawakened Warrior Goddess duel with Caius. "And to think I thought she was the Black Knight."

"Rosch! Stand down!" Caius cried out after he got away from Lightning who stopped her own attack.

"My Lord?"

"If Odin's true form gets you you, the plan will be ruined. Remember, we need the Lindzei Knights in one piece!" he commanded, the Black Knight nodded as he knelt down, transforming back. Fang snarled as Snow moved to stand behind her as Rosch pulled a card out from his pocket.

"Even though I can't use my Knight, it doesn't mean I can bring back an Undying from beyond the grave." He threw card forward. _"The soul defines existence, its expression is found in feeling, choice and action."_ he spoke as the card began to glow. _"A blade forged with hate, become one with life's circle again! Attacus!"_

"Fuck! No!" Fang cried out, eyes wide behind her helm as she pulled her lance back behind her. Slowly from a void of dark magic, Titan's old champion, Attacus the Soulless, emerged from the dark void. The Cie'th was massive, standing the grounds of a Knight or Fal'Cie. Snow stepped back slightly as Attacus ripped a massive blade from its own chest and poised for battle. Lightning torn her eyes away from the Undying and back to Caius, she held her blade out and charged the man again who blocked her blade with his own.

"I don't have the time to be playing with you, Warrior Goddess." he spat as he quickly regained ground, he spun his blade above his head and slammed it down on the ground. Purple fire erupted from the point of impact and branching off into five different streams, forcing Lightning to cross her arms before her to protect herself from the blast.

"Rosch, we're leaving." Caius said and with a flare of magic the two of them disappeared. Lightning quickly turned back to the other fighters. Odin was struggling to fight the fal'Cie on his own while Fang and Snow had a system built against Attacus. Snow was playing defence, having attracted the Undying's attention. His blade shattered against Fang's shattering blow forcing him to pull a stronger one out of the red l'Cie mark on his chest. Lightning turned back to Garland and Odin. Garland had managed to kick the knight off his feet as he stepped back.

"You bore me" he growled and disappeared, leaving the four of them with Attacus. Odin made a noise that sounded like a snarl as he turned his blade to the Undying before him. The two other l'Cie were more than happy for the extra help but by the looks of it, it wasn't going to be enough.

"Lightning! You beat him before!" Snow shouted at her. "Do you remember how?" Snow asked as he took a flurry of attacks from Attacus' blade.

"No." Lightning said as she looked at the Undying. "But I know for sure, he was much smaller than he is now." It was true, while her memories were faint of her past life things were coming back to her, little by little. This Attacus was different than the one the first Warrior Goddess had killed. While the appearance was similar, its height was outstanding. Lightning could remember him being the size of a human being, but this one, he clearly wasn't.

"Two Knights and an Eidolon... this Attacus seems almost overpowered." Sazh whispered at the other three bystanders. "They can't win a fight like this."

"But Lightning is the Warrior Goddess!" Rikku shouted. "She's _the_best! She'll come up with something!" Sazh couldn't tell if she was trying to reassure the others or just herself.

"Odin, stand down." Lightning commanded, her Eidolon looked at her before nodding. He knelt down and faded away, leaving the rose crystal behind, this time it was clean of blood. Lightning held out her left hand and took the crystal back, at the same time a small round shield appeared on her left arm. She took her Type-V Gunblade and held it out. Fang paused her attack on Attacus to watch as the Undying was attacking Snow relentlessly who was protecting himself with a Mediguard.

_"Oh Odin, White Warrior, wielder of the ancient sword." _Lightning chanted as magic started to surround her, she placed the tip of the blade against her shield. _"Let thunder herald your arrival!" _she slid her the blade behind the black part of her shield and it locked into place with a click. _"Verto!"_she cried out, throwing her left arm back as Odin's symbol emerged once more beneath her feet.

"So she can become a Knight as well." Hope said in awe. "The sword wasn't the Ark, it was just _part_of the Ark." he said as they watched Lightning transform into the White Knight. The knight's form retained a similarity to Odin's, although the chest was tapered to that of a female. The shoulder plates had changed, covering the bulk of the shoulder rather than just the sides. Her legs, instead of being the combination of thin metal and the hoof of a horse at the shin, the armour was much thicker and more appropriate looking for a human. The helmet had changed, the fabric tassel was gone and the helmet itself was a little more sleeker looking, instead of two horns at the side it had four horns at the forehead, symmetrical and at a slight angle. Gold circled by the ears and spiked out in the back. Blue eyes flared for a moment underneath the shadow of the helmet as a white mask covered the lower part of the face like the other Knights. Unlike the other two knights, pink energy escaped from the bottom of the helmet, draping across Lightning's shoulder like her own hair. To finish off the White Knight's appearance was a full sized white cape across the back of the shoulders, unlike Lightning and Odin's which only hung from a single shoulder.

"She's beautiful." Vanille whispered as the two blades of Zantensuken appeared in Lightning's hands as she finally attracted Attacus' attention away from Snow, allowing the three Knights to surround the Undying.

"Her summon chant was different from Snow or Fang's." Hope pointed out, Rikku shook her head.

"That's the power of her crystal." she said, Hope looked at Sazh.

"Fang has a crystal too, but not once had she used it while using Bahamut."

"There is a chance she doesn't know." Vanille pointed out. "I mean, we only found out that the crystal can strengthen the Ark when Lightning used it!"

"The Dragon Warrior was the Warrior Goddess' partner." Sazh realized. "That means, Fang will soon remember too."

Attacus, with its sights set on Lightning, charged at her with its blade. She flawlessly brought up her twin swords to block with one as they grounded their blades together. Snow brought his hand up and an ice spear erupted from underneath Attacus' feet forcing him to jump away, but Fang, the airborne fighter, was ready for him with her lance. She caught him in the shoulder of his sword arm and force him back onto the ground. The earth beneath them rumbled at the impact as cracks ran through the ground. Fang quickly cleared herself from the Undying as Lightning released her blades, they quickly spun around her body as a thunderstorm crashed down on Attacus, binding him as she caught the blades and with one mighty flip brought them down to the ground where a single bolt of lightning smashed down, strong enough to shatter Attacus' Unrelenting Blade.

"One more phase." Lightning said as the other two regrouped around her. She looked over her shoulder where Sazh was holding back the younger ones from charging into to help. "Be prepared to run!" she shouted. "The ground is starting to crumble beneath our feet, I won't be surprised if it collapses once this fight is over."

"You heard the lady." Sazh said. "We gotta move move somewhere safe."

"No!" Fang interrupted when Lightning charged Attacus, their blades meeting. "Go back to Home! We'll catch up with yeh!"

"I like that idea better!" Rikku cried out as she turned tail and ran, the others following her. Fang chuckled.

"Now we can fight all out." Fang grinned beneath her helmet. "We don't have to worry about them getting hurt.

"Perfect." Snow chuckled as he slammed his icy fists together. "A real fight is a good fight." Attacus spun its blade around its body and charged at Lightning again, with her being the leader and the much larger threat. She crossed her blades before her and blocked the attack, skidding back a couple metres before Snow came in and delivered a punch across the face. Lightning swung her left blade upwards, the hook of the blade catching the Undying and throwing him off his feet allowing Fang to dive down from above in a massive Highwind that rocked the entire clearing. Attacus cried out and kicked the Dragon Knight off it and turned its attention to Fang, swinging at her with its blade.

"Too slow." Fang chuckled as she blocked with the handle of her lance, Snow charged in with a tackle while Lightning connected her two blades at the handle and twirling them around her head before bringing it down, creating a Razor Gale. Attacus took the brute of the hit but left him open for Fang who came in, stabbing and slashing at his unprotected side, making him stumble forward.

"This guy just won't die!" Snow called out as he summoned magic to his hands again. Lightning paused.

"Soulless... Undying... of course!" she shouted. "He won't die because he is already dead! We're fighting his ghost!" she shouted as she looked around. "Something has him bound to this world." her eyes fell on the age old throne. "The old Warrior Goddess was bound to it, but if..." she turned to Fang. "You need to use another Highwind!"

"If I do it the entire place will come crumblin' down!" she shouted back at Lightning. "You gotta be crazy in the head!"

"That's the thing!" she pointed to the throne. "Just as part of me was bound to the throne, so is Attacus, we destroy that, we destroy the Undying!"

"But..."

"Do it!"

Fang, slightly skeptic, listened anyway, taking off high into the sky, knowing the further she flew the harder the impact would be. Grinding her teeth she looked down, from this height the impact would shatter their hold on their transformations, but it would be enough to bring the place down.

"Oh you asked for it." she muttered before folding her wings in and dropping like a rock.

The other two prepared for impact when they saw Fang hurtling down towards them. Snow protected himself with a Steelguard while Lightning found herself deadlocked with the Undying again. She kicked at it, breaking away just as Fang came down upon it. The following explosion was ins tense, knocking both Snow and Lightning off their feet and shattering their bond with their Eidolons. Fang, being the center of the blast felt her transformation slip as the Undying disappeared underneath her Bladed Lance. However with Attacus gone it gave them a new problem.

They were falling.

Fang gave out a strangled cry as the ground beneath her feet gave away to the canyon below, the fall would surely kill them and she couldn't transform again, not so soon. She looked around her, seeing Lightning jumped from rock to rock to get closer to her. Fang watched her silver armour reflect the setting sun's light as she neared her. When Lightning got close to her she grabbed Fang's wrist and sliced her palm with her gunblade.

"Hey! What the fu-"

"Your crystal!" Lightning shouted at her. "Where is your crystal!" Fang's eyes went wide. Her crystal? She quickly pulled it from her pouch and Lightning forced her to cover it with her own blood. Fang soon realized that was the way to summon an Eidolon in its real form.

"You better hope this works!" Fang shouted as she threw the stone upwards, Lightning flipped around so she was facing skywards as her gunblade transformed into a rifle.

_"A name in blood, a pact of ruin! By the grace of Etro come forth! Master of the Rift!"_Lightning roared as she shot the crystal, it took just seconds for a purple summon glyph to appear in the sky, Fang watched in awe as Bahamut, the same one she remembered fighting just days ago, to shatter through the glyph in his glider-like form and dive underneath them, catching them. Fang quickly took position at the head Lightning behind her as they moved through the falling debris over to Snow, catching him.

"Bahamut?" he asked, surprised, looking over at Fang and Lightning. "You two... you really are the Warrior Goddess and the Dragon Warrior."

"Wouldn't want it any other way mate." Fang grinned as the steered clear from the collapsing land and back towards Home.

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><p><strong>AN: **I'm gonna take a short break before I continue. I have a story on another account that needs updating, I should take an additional look at Saints or Sinners, see where I left off. Then I have this other idea for a crossover fic I'm sure is going to flop.

Just a quick question, would anyone read a story if I did a (good) crossover with our favorite characters here and card games on motorcycles?


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